Q.Write a short note on polar satellites.

Polar satellites travel in low-altitude orbits that pass near (or over) the Earth's poles rather than around the equator; because the Earth spins underneath a fixed orbital plane, these satellites eventually pass over every point on Earth, which makes them ideal for global surveying, weather, and remote sensing.

A polar satellite is an artificial satellite that revolves around the Earth in a near-polar orbit — an orbital plane inclined at close to 90° to the equatorial plane, so its path takes it close to (or directly over) the North and South poles on each revolution.

Key features:

• Altitude: relatively LOW, typically around 500–800 km above the Earth's surface (much lower than geostationary satellites).
• Orbital period: short, typically around 90–100 minutes, so the satellite completes many orbits per day.
• Coverage: because the satellite's orbital plane stays roughly fixed in space while the Earth rotates beneath it (once every 24 hours), the satellite's ground track shifts westward on each successive pass — over the course of a day, it eventually covers almost the entire surface of the Earth, pole to pole. …