Did you ever wonder how satellites circling the Earth are able to travel for so many years without crashing into the Earth? The answer is they fall to Earth much like an apple falls from your hand to the ground. Gravity works the same way with an apple falling from your hand as a satellite circling the Earth.

Let’s review how gravity works to better understand how a satellite travels in space. Gravity is an invisible force that acts to attract objects. Take for example our apple falling from your hand. Did you ever wonder why when you drop an apple it falls to the ground and not float in the air or rise to the sky?

The answer is: gravity. The apple and the Earth both act to attract each other. They exert a force of attraction towards each other in opposite directions. This invisible force of attraction acts to pull the apple towards the Earth and the Earth towards the apple. A better way to understand this invisible force is to think of how a magnet works. The magnet has a force as well. Its force, called magnetism, acts on a metal object and causes it to become attracted towards the magnet. The stronger the magnet is the stronger its magnetism. That is: a weak magnet can pick up a steel needle while a stronger magnet can pick up a car.

Gravity works the same way as a magnet except its force of attraction is far, far weaker than the smallest magnet you can buy in the store. For example, you take two apples and put them side by side and gravity is not strong enough to make them move and come together like a steel needle and a weak magnet. No, for gravity to be noticed you need, at least, one vary big object. How big? Think how big the Earth is compared to the apple. That gives you an idea of size.

As you see, gravity is pulling the apple towards it. That is why the apples falls to the ground and not float in the air or rise to the sky. In fact, the Earth being as big as it is, with such a strong gravitation force compared to everything on Earth, explains why everything doesn’t float off into space!

Getting back to our falling satellite, the satellite is also falling from space towards Earth. The gravity of the Earth, being so much stronger than the satellite, is pulling the small satellite towards it. So, why doesn’t the satellite crash into the Earth? The reason is that the Earth is moving away from the satellite at the same speed it’s falling to Earth.

The Earth orbits the sun. As the Earth travels around the sun, the satellite is falling towards the ground, but the ground moves away from the satellite at almost the same speed as the satellite is falling. That is why the satellite never lands on the Earth. The satellite allows gravity to do all the work. As long as the Earth doesn’t stop orbiting the sun, the satellite can never fall to the ground.

Hope this explanation helps… Take Care