Orbital inclination
The angle between an orbit and the equator, which decides what ground the satellite ever sees.
An orbit at 0° inclination stays over the equator; at 90° it passes over both poles. A satellite can never pass over ground at a higher latitude than its inclination, which is why polar-orbiting weather and imaging satellites exist and why the space station at 51.6° flies over most of the inhabited world but not over the poles. Changing inclination once in orbit is enormously expensive in fuel — far more than raising or lowering the orbit — so it is chosen at launch and lived with.
Related terms
Questions
What is Orbital inclination?
The angle between an orbit and the equator, which decides what ground the satellite ever sees.
Why does it matter?
A satellite can never pass over ground at a higher latitude than its inclination, which is why polar-orbiting weather and imaging satellites exist and why the space station at 51.6° flies over most of the inhabited world but not over the poles. Changing inclination once in orbit is enormously expensive in fuel — far more than raising or lowering the orbit — so it is chosen at launch and lived with.