Question

The height of a geostationary satellite is
A. 1000 km
B. 32000 km
C. 36000 km
D. 850 km

Answer 1

Hint: Satellites can be natural or man made. For example the natural satellite of the earth is the moon and artificial satellites are the satellites sent by human beings into space. There can be many orbits of a satellite depending upon the use. For example, communication satellites usually have a low height from the surface of the earth as compared to the military satellites which are used for secure end to end communication.

Complete answer:
Geostationary satellites are those which orbit around the earth and they are placed at an altitude of approximately 35,800 kilometers. Thus, we can conclude their height to be 36000 km. One unique feature of them is that they are directly placed over the equator, that revolves in the same direction the earth rotates (west to east) and because of this they remain stationary with respect to an observer of the earth. At this altitude, one orbit takes 24 hours, the same length of time as the earth requires to rotate once on its axis.

So, the correct option is C.

Note: These are called geostationary satellites because of the fact that such a satellite appears nearly stationary in the sky as seen by a ground-based observer. Another term used for them is geosynchronous satellites. The communication platforms based on the communication with the help of these satellites are known as geosynchronous networks. Most of the communication satellites are placed in the geosynchronous orbit.