polar orbit
Sign in to savesatellite orbit with high inclination
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, polar orbit is referenced by 490 other articles, and connects out to orbital inclination, near-equatorial orbit and Earth.
Vinony files it under Astrodynamics and Earth orbits.
Its subject is documented across 36 Wikipedia language editions.
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Polar orbit on the Earth A polar orbit is one in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited (usually a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the Moon or Sun) on each revolution. It has an inclination of about 80–90 degrees to the body's equator.
Launching satellites into polar orbit requires a larger launch vehicle to launch a given payload to a given altitude than for a near-equatorial orbit at the same altitude, because it cannot take advantage of the Earth's rotational velocity. Depending on the location of the launch site and the inclination of the polar orbit, the launch vehicle may lose up to 460 m/s of Delta-v, approximately 5% of the Delta-v required to attain Low Earth orbit.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “polar orbit” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.