ABSTRACT
Over the years, writers of science fiction films have used many literary devices to overcome the basic problem of trying to film people who are supposed to be in space: how to simulate the lack of gravity. Earth is a large planet, so the curve of its surface is quite small over a region the size of a golf course. However, someone firing projectiles from one part of the world to another, or at least planning to fire them, must take the curvature into account. A satellite in polar orbit moves from one pole to another. Viewed from Earth, a satellite in a polar orbit does not appear stationary. The radio dishes communicating with it must track its path across the sky. While the satellite moves from north to south (or the other way) the world beneath it turns from west to east. As a result, the satellite will eventually fly over every part of the Earth's surface.
