BELIEVE   ME   NOT!    -     A   SKEPTIC's   GUIDE  

Changing Orbits

The first thing you should notice about the above equations is that satellites move slower in higher orbits. This is slightly counterintuitive in that they go slower when they have further to go to get all the way around, which has a dramatic effect on the period (see below). However, that's the way it is. Consequently, if you are in a low orbit and you want to transfer into a higher orbit, you eventually want to end up going slower. Nevertheless, the first thing you do to initiate such a change is to speed up! See if you can figure out why.^10.11