Circular and Satellite Motion - Mission CG8 Detailed Help

The elliptical path of an orbiting satellite is shown below. Several locations along the path are labeled with letters. The satellite is orbiting in a counterclockwise direction. A vector is shown to the left of the orbital path. The direction of this vector is representative of the direction of the velocity vector at location ____ and the direction of the net force vector at location ____.


 
Definition of a Satellite:
A satellite is an object that is orbiting some central body as a result of the sole influence of the gravitational attraction towards that body's mass.


 
Orbital Motion and Velocity:
Velocity is a vector and has a direction. The direction of an object's velocity is always in the same direction that the object is moving. For an object moving in orbital motion, the velocity vector is always directed in a direction that is tangent to the orbital path.

 
A satellite is an object that is under the sole influence of gravity. The net force on a satellite is simply the force of gravity with which it is attracted to the object it orbits. This force of gravity is an attractive force that is exerted in a direction along the imaginary line that connects the centers of the two objects.