A ground track or ground trace is the path on the surface of the Earth directly below an aircraft or satellite. In the case of a satellite, it is the projection of the satellite's orbit onto the surface of the Earth (or whatever body the satellite is orbiting).
A satellite ground track may be thought of as a path along the Earth's surface which traces the movement of an imaginary line between the satellite and the center of the Earth. In other words, the ground track is the set of points at which the satellite will pass directly overhead, or cross the zenith, in the frame of reference of a ground observer.
Read more about Ground Track: Sources of Variation
Famous quotes containing the words ground and/or track:
“My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a Bible-bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small.”
—John Wesley (1703–1791)
“Away went the messenger’s bicycle,
His serpent’s track went up the hill forever.
And all the time she stood there hot as fever
And cold as any icicle.”
—John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)