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orbiter

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,220 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: orbiters

An orbiter is a craft that circles a world rather than landing on it. The Mars orbiter, an orbiter and a lander, the orbiter relayed the signal.

It usually carries the lander there and then relays its signals home, since a small machine on the surface cannot reach Earth alone. Staying in orbit is far cheaper than landing, which is why most missions are one.

The original uploader was Thegreenj at English Wikipedia. · Public domain

Definitions of orbiter

  1. 1nounorbiterA craft that circles a world rather than landing on it.C1

    “The orbiter circled Mars for years, sending back detailed photos of its surface.”

orbiter is a craft.

Where it comes from

  1. Latin

    orbita — course, track, impression, mark

  2. Middle English

    orbite

  3. English

    orbit

  4. English, today

    orbiter

From orbit + -er. orbit Middle English orbite, orbita, from Latin orbita (“course, track, impression, mark”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Science & Space

Practise this word

orbiter in the wild

  • Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.

    Space Shuttle

  • At the conclusion of the mission, the orbiter fired its OMS to deorbit and reenter the atmosphere.

    Space Shuttle

  • The mission, designated STS-107, was the 28th flight for the orbiter and the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle fleet.

    Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

  • The remaining three orbiters were retired after the building of the ISS was completed.

    Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

  • Six orbiters were built for flight: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour.

    Space Shuttle orbiter

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the orbita family

orbit

orbiter — used about once every 41,009 pages · #14,220 · point at the bar for the others

  • orbital