Look at it this way. How far away is the moon? (about 234,000 miles) It takes 28 days to make one orbit. How far are the geo birds? They are 23,300 miles away and they stay in exactly the same spot over the earth at the equator. That said, it is NOT the slowing down that makes it go up and it (ISS) cannot get itself up higher, it must be "boosted" to a higher orbit. Go to: http://www.mgte.com and click on "FUN PAGE" a pop-up will come up with selections. Then click on "HOW TO ORBIT" button. If you have microsoft word, download the file and see the answer. There you will also find a diagram explaining the whole process. I did this a couple of years ago as a project. Bottom line: NOTHING technically "orbits" the earth. All objects orbit the sun. These objects "going around" the earth are actually "zig-zagging" around the earth. Look at the diagram and you'll see what I mean. Mike (On the worlds largest Sandbar) 30.5904, -86.9635 On 23 Nov 2008 at 9:18, Darwin Teague wrote: > I was trying to explain to a friend why they boost the ISS.'s orbit > and discovered a flaw in my explanation. Here is the gist of it. > > The lower the orbit, the faster a sat has to go to counteract gravity. > > Even at 220 miles up, there is enough atmosphere to gradually slow the > ISS. Therefore it needs to boost itself into a higher orbit > periodically. > > Am I right so far? > > If so, why does slowing it down make it go down and not up? > > > Gun safety site and forum > http://negligentdischarge.com > > Lee Loadmaster press site and forum > http://loadmastervideos.com > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > --- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat- L > archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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