Orbit Earth orbiting satellites can be placed into just about any type of orbit depending on the mission characterisitics of the spacecraft. However, two general classes of orbits have come into widespread use for meteorological purposes. These are geostationary orbits and sun-synchronous orbits. In spite of the slight offset from a true polar orbit, the sun-synchronous orbits are normally just refered to as polar orbits .
Geostationary orbits are circular orbits that are oriented in the plane of the Earth's equator.
The goal is to place the satellite in an orbit that is low enough to permit a relatively short orbital period, while at the same time high enough to permit observation of a wide enough area. By placing a satellite at an altitude of about 833 km, you get an orbital period of roughly 100 minutes. At this altitude, you can get true global coverage if the scan swath of the satellite's instrumentation is about 3000 km. Orbits A satellite placed in true polar orbit with respect to the earth would move with respect to the sun as the earth made its 365 day trek around it. Meaning that the satellite would have different illumination in its field of view as the seasons changed.