As India becomes 4th country with anti-satellite weapon, here's all you need to know about Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and its significance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Wednesday to announce that India shot down a Low-Orbit Satellite in the space. The mission was named "Mission Shakti" which was effectively worked in only 3 minutes. 

READ | MASSIVE: With Successful 'Mission Shakti', India Downs Low-Earth Orbit Satellite With A-SAT Weapon Taking India's Defence Capabilities To The Next Level

"India has entered its name as an elite space power. An anti-satellite weapon A-SAT, successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit. India has registered herself as a Space Power today; till now only US, Russia and China have achieved this; now India is the 4th country to achieve this feat. It was a very difficult mission. It is a very proud moment for India and its citizens today. I would like to congratulate the scientists of India who operated the mission successfully," PM Modi said while addressing the nation on Wednesday morning.

But what is LEO (Low Earth Orbit)?

It is an Earth-centered orbit with an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 mi) or less (approximately one third of the radius of Earth) and an orbital period between about 84 and 127 minutes.

Any object below this altitude will suffer from orbital decay and will rapidly descend into the atmosphere, either burning up or crashing on the surface. 

Most of the manmade objects in space are in LEO. Low Earth Orbits are satellite frameworks utilized in media transmission, which circle somewhere in the range of 400 and 1,000 miles above the earth's surface. They are utilized essentially for information correspondence, for example, email, video conferencing and paging. They move at very high speeds and are not fixed in space in connection to the earth. 

Low Earth Orbits are satellite systems used in telecommunication, which orbit between 400 and 1,000 miles above the earth's surface. They are used mainly for data communication such as email, video conferencing and paging. They move at extremely high speeds and are not fixed in space in relation to the earth.

LEO is more about speed than elevation. LEO is the easiest, least expensive and most secure area for the sending of satellites, space stations, and maintained space missions. 

What's the advantage?

Low Earth Orbit is utilized for things that we need to visit frequently with the Space Shuttle, similar to the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. This is advantageous for putting in new instruments, fixing things that are broken, and examining harm. It is likewise about the main way we can have individuals go up, do investigations, and return in a moderately brief time. 

A low Earth orbit requires the most minimal energy for satellite arrangement. It gives high transfer speed and low correspondence inertness.

Since it requires less energy to put a satellite into a LEO, and a satellite there necessities less incredible intensifiers for effective transmission, LEO is utilized for some correspondence applications, for example, the Iridium telephone framework. Some correspondence satellites utilize a lot higher geostationary circles, and move at a similar precise speed as the Earth as to seem stationary over one area on the planet.