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Astronomy & Space vocabulary · Rockets & Spacecraft

Satellite

Meaning in astronomy & space, with examples

/ˈsætəlaɪt/nounCore term

In astronomy & space, satellite means: An object that orbits a planet or another body. Most often it means a machine sent into orbit for communication, navigation, weather forecasting or observation.

In Turkish: uydu, yapay uydu

How it is used

Satellites are launched, deployed, operated and finally deorbited. Common types are communications, weather, navigation (GPS) and Earth observation satellites. Astronomers may call moons 'natural satellites'.

Example sentences

  1. The new navigation satellite was launched into orbit on Tuesday.

  2. The weather satellite sends new images of the clouds every ten minutes.

Common collocations

  • communications satellite
  • weather satellite
  • deploy a satellite
  • satellite imagery
  • natural satellite
  • orbitThe curved path that an object such as a planet, moon or satellite follows around another object because of gravity. As a verb, it means to move along this path.
  • geostationary orbitA circular orbit about 35,786 km above the equator in which a satellite takes one day to circle Earth, so it seems to stay fixed over the same spot.
  • low Earth orbitAn orbit relatively close to Earth, usually below about 2,000 km. The space station and most Earth observation satellites fly in low Earth orbit.
  • payloadThe cargo a rocket carries into space for a customer or a mission, such as a satellite, a probe, supplies or a crew capsule, as opposed to the rocket itself.
  • moonA natural object that orbits a planet or a dwarf planet. Written as 'the Moon', it means Earth's only natural satellite.

More terms: Rockets & Spacecraft

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