How do satellites always point toward earth

717 views

Based on what I’ve learned from games like KSP and Spaceflight Simulator, anything in orbit will “roll” relative to the earth (ex if something is pointed away from
Earth at one point in orbit at the opposite point of its orbit it will point directly at Earth). Obviously a satellite would need to be always pointing toward earth, so how would it? I’ve also noticed this with the ISS when I watched a timelapse that was taken from the cupola.

In: Engineering

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Some of them have long booms, one points down and the other away, and the differential pull cause by gravity/tides keeps them aligned that way.

You are viewing 1 out of 4 answers, click here to view all answers.