ETYM French, from Latin satelles, -itis, an attendant.
See communications satellite.
1. A man-made object that orbits around the earth; SYN. artificial satellite.
2. A person who follows or serves another; SYN. planet.
3. Any celestial body orbiting around a planet or star.
Any small body that orbits a larger one, either natural or artificial. Natural satellites that orbit planets are called moons. The first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched into orbit around the Earth by the ussr 1957. Artificial satellites are used for scientific purposes, communications, weather forecasting, and military applications. The largest artificial satellites can be seen by the naked eye.
At any time, there are several thousand artificial satellites orbiting the Earth, including active satellites, satellites that have ended their working lives, and discarded sections of rockets. Artificial satellites eventually re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
Usually they burn up by friction, but sometimes debris falls to the Earth’s surface, as with Skylab and Salyut 7.
More than 70,000 pieces of space junk, ranging from disabled satellites to tiny metal fragments, are careering around the Earth. The extent of such waste is likely to increase, as the waste particles in orbit are continually colliding and fragmenting further. + prikaži više