Summary of Concepts on Satellite Platforms

  • Geostationary satellites:
    • describe their orbit around the earth.
    • why are they at an altitude of 35,800 km?
    • what are the advantages and disadvantages of geostationary satellites?
    • what are the areas of coverage for the two U.S. GOES satellites? What are their sub points?
    • Describe the scanning strategy for the GOES satellites.
  • Polar orbiting satellites:
    • at what altitude do they orbit the earth?
    • what are the advantages and disadvantages of the polar orbiting satellites?
    • describe the orbit of the polar orbiting satellites.
    • what is their scan coverage?
  • what factors affect the data resolution for both polar and GOES satellites?
  • what is parallax and what error does it introduce into satellite data?