Replies

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  Jeffrey Arulraj

  Not vertically But by using increased elliptical path the angular acceleration can be made to exceed earth's gravity and go into outer space
  
  PS: check out Mission MARS by NASA that is a good example of this phenomenon
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  Sindhu Chowdary

  oh ya elliptical paths...i think thats how satellite launching takes place..i have another doubt here..a satellite is taken to its orbit by 2 methods..that is first it is taken to one elliptical then to its circular...positioning the satellite is understandable...but how come the satellite revolves with such a high speed (in case of geostationary satellite it is approximately 3070mps) since the second of its launching??
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  Jeffrey Arulraj

  There is a slight misconception here at the moment of launch the acceleration is higher not the velocity. But as the altitude increases this acceleration is reduced and finally the vertical acceleration component reduces and becomes to 0 Whereas the angular acceleration is 0 in the initial stages and once in orbit the angular acceleration becomes maximum and holds the satellite there in a fixed altitude but it revolves with higher velocity around the earth
  
  But do note that once the desired orbit is attained the angular acceleration also becomes constant preventing the satellite from moving away from the earth.
  
  The end result is all the acceleration terms become almost 0 and only the angular velocity is maintained by the satellite cos of the earth's gravity this keeps the satellite in its place
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  Ramani Aswath

  Actually what happens is this. The satellite in continuously falling to the earth. However the angular velocity of the satellite is such that the earth curves away under the satellite at the same speed, ineffect maintaining the distance to the earth's surface constant.
  It therefore remains in a stable orbit. In a geostationary orbit the earth's own rotation speed matches the angular velocity of the satellite so that it is apparently stationary above the earth.