Students explore orbits of planets and satellites. Some topics examined in the activities are planetary motion, angular momentum of orbits, and Kepler's laws. The resource consists of video clips, lecture notes, practice problems, and...

Did you know you can see many satellites with the naked eye? Try this activity and find out for yourself!

Students explore how a satellite's motion is governed by the same physics principles and described by the same mathematical equations.

Through interactive practice problems and illustrated examples, students explore energy relationships for satellites.

Find out about the behavior and characteristics of the many satellite galaxies that orbit other galaxies.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Astronauts and space study.

A basic introduction to artificial, or man-made, satellites. Links to information about the planets and other objects in our solar system are included.

Named in honor of Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, Denmark's first satellite has been observing and mapping the magnetic field of the Earth.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Astronauts and space study.

A satellite is orbiting the Earth at a given height and learners are asked to find the distance it travels to complete 70 percent of an orbit. This task provides a context for connecting an angle in radians to the arc length intercepted...

An engaging look at satellites! What they are, what they do, and how they orbit. One interactive activity is building three different types of satellites.

How do we know where we are? In this lesson, students explore the concept of triangulation that is used in navigation satellites and global positioning systems designed by engineers. Also, students learn how these technologies can help...

This activity introduces gravity and Kepler's Laws and helps to develop an understanding of gravitational force, satellite orbits, and their dependence on the initial velocity.

How do we communicate with each other? How do we communicate with people who are close by? How do we communicate with people who are far away? For this lesson, students will explore the role of communications and how satellites help...

Students use satellite tracking software available on the Internet to monitor a very large satellite, the International Space Station. Using information from this online resource, students predict and graph the motion of the space...

A page describing the physics, mathematics, and historical figures associated with planetary motion, satellite motion, and universal gravitation.

This site from NASA provides biographical details about the lives of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Discusses Kepler's successes at developing laws of planeatry motion. States the three laws and discusses each one individually....

This site provides a detailed overview of the TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer) satellite mission, data received, details about the instrumentation, and how to interpret the data.

NASA provides a detailed overview of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), currently orbiting the sun and gathering information on the sun's structure, composition and dynamics. Site includes images, movies, data, solar lessons,...

In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik and had an astronaut orbit the moon a few years later. The U.S. was shocked and vowed to not be left behind. Examine how JFK rallied the country and Congress to get behind the race...

Middle schoolers learn how engineers navigate satellites in orbit around the Earth and on their way to other planets in the solar system. In accompanying activities, they explore how ground-based tracking and onboard measurements are...

Through illustrated examples and practice problems, this interactive physics tutorial helps students clear up their possible misconceptions about weightlessness.

Through illustrated examples and interactive practice, students explore Newton's ability to relate the cause for heavenly motion (the orbit of the moon about the earth) to the cause for Earthly motion (the falling of an apple to the...

In this interactive module, describe and explain the motion of objects that either move in circles or can be approximated to be moving in circles. Kinematic concepts and motion principles will be applied to the motion of objects in...