I have worked on many satellite systems and many coworkers have not understood the answer to your question. Satellites are not weightless. They do not just float up in space. Satellite orbits depend on gravity, velocity, altitude and direction of the velocity. Basically satellites are moving with their velocity and falling due to the gravity. When satellites are in circular orbits the distnce travelled from velocity and from falling are equal so the satellite falls in a circle around the earth. Something in a low-velocity, low orbit will travel around the earth in just a few hours (examples are the space shuttle or space station which orbit just a few hundred miles high. At 23.5 thousand miles a circular orbit takes 24 hours. If the direction is west-to-east and the circle is above the equator then the satellite seems to be above the same spot on earth all day. This is called a geosynchronous orbit and takes a large booster rocket to get there. Orbits do not need to be east-west. They can be nrth-south or anything, really. These orbits have strange ground tracks, but low earth orbits are often used for surveilance or mapping, etc. Orbits that are not circular are elliptical. These are often polar-orbiting satellites that have the loft part of the orbit over the north pole. The gravity of the sun and moon as well as solar wind alters orbits so many satellits have means for orbit corrections. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the info. Sometimes I don’t get the answers I’m looking for from the Internet.
Thanks for not taking a swipe at me.
Orbits do not need to be east-west. They can be nrth-south or anything, really.Well, they can't be "anything".
They must all orbit the center of the earth, not some other point. For example, you can't have a geosynchronous orbit directly over New York City.
A geostationary orbit can only be achieved at an altitude very close to 35,786 km (22,236 mi), and directly above the Equator. All geostationary satellites have to be located on this ring.
Of course, geosynchronous orbits are only one small sub-set of all possible orbits, but all orbits must orbit the center of the earth. They can't be "anything".
I'm sure you know that but I'm just pointing it out for the sake of the original poster.
That does help. Thanks!