Examples
Israel has successfully launched five Shavit satellites in retrograde orbit. One or more of these are spy satellites. They were launched in retrograde orbit so that launch debris would land in the Mediterranean Sea, and not on Israel's Arab neighbors.
The USA launched two Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) radar satellites into 122 degree inclined retrograde orbits in 2010 and 2012. The use of a retrograde orbit suggest these satellites employ SAR techniques.
Earth-observing satellites may also be launched into a sun-synchronous orbit, which is slightly retrograde. This is typically done in order to keep a constant surface illumination angle, which is useful for observations in the visible or infrared spectrums. SEASAT and ERS-1 are examples of satellites launched into sun-synchronous orbits for this reason.
Read more about this topic: Artificial Satellites In Retrograde Orbit
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