An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A spacecraft orbit that passes over, or close to, the geographic poles of the Earth or some other solar system object.

→ polar; → orbit.

A satellite that revolves around the Earth in an almost north-south orbit, passing close to both poles. The orbits are sun synchronous, allowing the satellite to cross the equator at the same local time each day. These satellites orbit at a height of 830-880 km and take about 100 minutes to complete a turn around the Earth.

→ polar; → orbit; → satellite.