Are there satellites in the thermosphere

Below the thermosphere, gases made of different types of atoms and molecules are thoroughly mixed together by turbulence in the atmosphere. In the thermosphere and above, gas particles collide so infrequently that the gases become somewhat separated based on the types of chemical elements they contain. Energetic ultraviolet and X-ray photons from the Sun also break apart molecules in the thermosphere. In the upper thermosphere, atomic oxygen O , atomic nitrogen N , and helium He are the main components of air.

Much of the X-ray and UV radiation from the Sun is absorbed in the thermosphere. When the Sun is very active and emitting more high energy radiation, the thermosphere gets hotter and expands or "puffs up".

Because of this, the height of the top of the thermosphere the thermopause varies. The thermopause is found at an altitude between km and 1, km or higher. Many satellites orbit within the thermosphere and changes in the density of the very, very thin air at orbital altitudes, brought on by heating and expansion of the thermosphere, generates a drag force on satellites.

Engineers must take this varying drag into account when calculating orbits, and satellites occasionally need to be boosted higher to offset the effects of the drag force. High-energy solar photons also tear electrons away from gas particles in the thermosphere, creating electrically-charged ions of atoms and molecules. Just like your refrigerator is built to redirect the heat to its back where the heat is evacuated by convection; just like your computer has heat pipes that move the heat away from its processor and send it to the ventilation fans.

So, in the case of satellites or the ISS, where should we send the heat to? We should send it to a part of the object where it will be efficiently evacuated. And since we want to evacuate this heat away from the object and since convection is not an option because as you said, the air particles are too diluted and too hot , the only option is to evacuate this heat through radiations.

Radiators are flat panels much like photovoltaic panels, but they are specifically designed to emit radiations instead of absorb radiations. The photovoltaic panels are black and face the sun; logically, radiators are white and perpendicular to the sun. You might argue that small satellites do not have apparent radiators. At first glance space suits do not have apparent radiators either. But they actually do have one, though depending on the size of the object they may not require a very big one.

For example, there is an external radiator in the Life Support System of space suits. If you want to know more, you will easily find documentation about how heat pipes and radiators are designed for objects in space.

Like Liked by 2 people. What happens if you build a vacuum room and put a radiator in? If you stand in this room, will you feel the heat? I guess you do. This is the issue. Instead, they put orbital decay to good use by monitoring the drag on satellites to estimate the density of the rarefied air. Then they can use the density to calculate the temperature — proof that every cloud has a silver lining! Like Liked by 1 person.

Then we have the Earth being held to the Sun, where the Earth is closest to the Sun by 3 million miles in December in the N. Reblogged this on Discoveries Revealed. Like Like. There are only seven elements on the periodic table that could withstand this heat and none have […]. Shit we have now is dogma and religion. Fuck NASA they are a money draining scam, period. Good question! Why it is possible: 1. As temperature is determined by definition as the measure at which atoms vibrate and collide with one another, temperature in orbit is experienced way different than it is on Earth, meaning the heating of the surface is not caused by the same processes at the Earths surface.

Heating is by conduction is negligible, because this works with the exchange of energy between atoms around the spacecraft and the spacecraft itself by collisions. This leaves only heating by radiation light from the sun and internal components that produce heat. This helps in maintaining a constant temperature for the satellite. Excess heat can be released from the satellite or any other spacecraft , by placing radiators. These are components, placed in particularly hot sections of the satellite, which are reflecting on the outside, and transparent on the inside just like these mirrors in stores, behind which security may reside.

These make radiation from only the inside the satellite to the outside possible. The heat produced by internal components can be lost by creating a heat conducting path using a metal or liquid thus convection between the hot component and a radiator. This is only a short summary of the most common methods, I hope it was clear for the people who did not understand this obviously hard subject. I also hope that people understand now that there is more than meets the eye and start doing a bit of research in the subject or their question before residing to theories with arguments that are easily debunked, with proper knowledge on the subject.

Are you aware all space news comes from one source only? Exposure is of the order of 20 minutes or so. Not a problem for electronics or astronauts. The thermosphere could have a temperature of a million degrees, and would still not heat up satellites, space stations, or space junk by more than a few degrees.

Temperature is a measure of the kinetic energy of molecules. Heat is the product of molecules x kinetic energy. Too few molecules up there to hold much heat. Direct sunlight is something of a problem. The simple solution is for satellites etc.

God, you not only drank the Kool aid but the whole yr. Look it up in the etymology of words gravity n. Look up gravity at Dictionary. NIce burntoast! Are you a troll? If gravity is out, and weight is in — this needs some details beyond the word.

I say not. Does any of that describe a troll?? Symbol: g. Man on the moon, satellites, Hubble, even simple air planes can only get so high…before they start.. I love when uneducated people get together and make themselves feel smarter by agreeing to believe things like this. As others have already pointed out, the idea that objects will be heated and destroyed in the thermosphere is an insane fairy tale.

While the temperature can be very high, there is not enough atmosphere to convey any significant amount of heat. If you look at the charts at the start of this moronic article, you will see that the temperature does not really start to increase significantly until you reach an altitude of about km.

This altitude is what we generally regard as the beginning of space, and the air at that altitude is about the same as we can achieve in a pretty good vacuum chamber on earth. The heating of meteors and spacecraft entering the atmosphere is TOTALLY due to heating from atmospheric friction as they reach the denser layers of the atmosphere. The thermosphere is in no way involved in this heating!

Remember that ONLY smaller meteors burn up completely, the larger ones, like the one that hit the Tunguska River region of Russia in make it through to the lover atmosphere. This object was estimated to be about 50m in diameter and when it exploded as it neared the surface it knocked the forest flat over an area of square miles.

The K-T event 65 million years ago that is thought by many to have been responsible for the the extinction of the dinosaurs resulted from the impact of an object about 10km in diameter near what is now Yucatan, Mexico. All you naysayers…. You FE wackos have SO much wrong beyond just the shape of the spherical earth!

Apollo 11 was the first mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface and returned to Earth. The CM was a conical pressure vessel with a maximum diameter of 3.

It was made of an aluminum honeycomb sandwhich bonded between sheet aluminum alloy. After the S-II stage separated from the rocket, the third stage burned for about 2. Its velocity was 7. The radioactive particles would have magnetized the melted aluminum hull and fried everyone inside.

But only in recent years the technology became available to the public and businesses while concurrently making dramatic strides in coverage and resolution. During these months, the satellites can appear very visible in the night sky when they fly over your location because of their reflective surfaces. GOES satellites provide the kind of continuous monitoring necessary for intensive data analysis.

This allows them to hover continuously over one position on the surface. Geological Survey. While the geostationary orbit lies on the same plane as the equator, the geosynchronous satellites have a different inclination. This is the key difference between the two types of orbits. The geostationary orbit is used by many applications including direct broadcast as well as communications or relay systems.