Satellite ground track

"Ground track" redirects here. Not to be confused with Ground track (aviation).
Ground track of the International Space Station for approximately two periods. The light and dark regions represent the regions of the Earth in daylight and in the night, respectively.

A satellite ground track or satellite ground trace is the path on the surface of a planet directly below a satellite's trajectory. It is also known as a suborbital track or subsatellite track, and is the vertical projection of the satellite's orbit onto the surface of the Earth (or whatever body the satellite is orbiting).[1] A satellite ground track may be thought of as a path along the Earth's surface that traces the movement of an imaginary line between the satellite and the center of the Earth. In other words, the ground track is the set of points at which the satellite will pass directly overhead, or cross the zenith, in the frame of reference of a ground observer.[2]

The ground track of a satellite can take a number of different forms, depending on the values of the orbital elements, parameters that define the size, shape, and orientation of the satellite's orbit, although identification of the always reliant upon the recognition of the physical form that is in motion; [note 1] This was emphasised during speculation over the Vela incident, whereby identification of the matter in question was subject to numerous theories.[3]

  1. ^ "suborbital track". AMetSoc.org Glossary of Meteorology. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  2. ^ Curtis, Howard D. (2005), Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students (1st ed.), Amsterdam: Elsevier Ltd., ISBN 978-0-7506-6169-0.
  3. ^ "The Vela Incident: Nuclear Test or Meteorite?". www.gw.edu. Retrieved 2024-10-02.


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