POLAR ORBIT

A polar orbit is an orbit in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body (usually a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the sun) being orbited on each revolution. The Satellite rotates over the North and South Poles, which is an orbit perpendicular to equatorial plane. It therefore has an inclination of (or very close to) 90 degree to the equator.

A Polar orbit is a particular type of Low Earth Orbit. A satellite in a polar orbit will pass over the equator at a different longitude on each of its orbits. Polar orbits are often used for earth-mapping, earth observation and reconnaissance satellites, as well as some weather satellites. Not generally use for communication.

A satellite can hover over one polar area a large part of the time, albeit at a large distance, using a polar highly elliptical orbit with its apogee above that area. This is the principle behind a Molniya orbit.

Polar orbiting:

Polar Operational Environmental Orbits(POES)

The POES satellite system offers the advantage of daily global coverage, by making nearly polar orbits roughly 14.1 times daily. As we know, the polar orbiting nature of the POES series satellites, these satellites are able to collect global data on a daily basis for a variety of land, ocean, and atmospheric applications.

Example of Near-Polar orbit:

The ground track of a polar orbiting satellite is displaced to the west after each orbital period, due to the rotation of the Earth. This displacement of longitude is a function of the orbital period (often less than 2 hours for low altitude orbits).

Map of the ground path of one revolution of a typical near-polar orbiting satellite.

The orbit of a near polar satellite as viewed from a point rotating with the Earth.