Satellites that take pictures of the earth would work best with bright sunlight.
Sun synchronous satellite images.
The satellite has a 16 day repeat cycle with an equatorial crossing time.
A satellite in a sun synchronous orbit would usually be at an altitude of between 600 to 800 km.
The hysis minisatellite in deployed configuration image credit.
The superview 1 satellite was launched on january 9 2018 03 24 utc on a long march 2d vehicle from tslc taiyuan satellite launch center in china.
Liftoff of the pslv c43 vehicle from from sdsc image credit.
Watch the farearth observer to see what landsat sees live.
Orbit of passenger payloads.
The orbit is quasi polar in nature and so ensures coverage of the whole surface of the earth.
Sun synchronous orbits these orbits allows a satellite to pass over a section of the earth at the same time of day.
Features of sun synchronous orbits.
An earth observation satellite or earth remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for earth observation eo from orbit including spy satellites and similar ones intended for non military uses such as environmental monitoring meteorology map making and others.
Because of the orbital velocity all other points on the globe are passed either slightly before or after this time.
Sun synchronous orbit altitude of 504 5 km inclination of 97 468º.
These satellites orbit at an altitude between 700 to 800 km.
At 800 km it will be travelling at a speed of approximately 7 5 km per second.
If you live near the equator landsat 8 will pass high above your head at 10 00 am in the morning every 16th day to image your neighbourhood.
Thus it guarantees the same illumination condition which varies only with seasons.
Landsat 8 orbits the the earth in a sun synchronous near polar orbit at an altitude of 705 km 438 mi inclined at 98 2 degrees and completes one earth orbit every 99 minutes.
Superview 1 satelllite sensor 0 5m is a chinese remote sensing satellite operated by beijing space view technology co.
This consistent lighting is a useful characteristic for satellites that image the earth s surface in visible or infrared wavelengths such as weather and spy satellites.
These orbits are used for satellites that need a constant amount of sunlight.
As a satellite in a near polar sun synchronous orbit revolves around the earth the satellite crosses the equator at approximately the same local sun time every day.
It is sun synchronous which means that the satellite always passes the same point on earth at the same local time.
A sun synchronous orbit is useful for imaging spy and weather satellites because every time that the satellite is overhead the surface illumination angle on the planet underneath it will be nearly the same.
The most common type are earth imaging satellites that take satellite images analogous to aerial photographs.