SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 3 · General Awareness · Question 12 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Evaluate the following statements and select the option that is accurate: Statement 1: Sun-synchronous orbits allow satellites to maintain consistent local solar time over a specific region. Statement 2: This orbital feature is ideal for continuous solar-powered communication satellites in geostationary orbit.

(a)Only Statement 1 is correct
(b)Only Statement 2 is correct
(c)Both 1 and 2 are correct
(d)Neither 1 nor 2 are correct

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Statement 1 is true. ESA: a Sun-synchronous satellite passes over the same spot on Earth at the same local time every day, its example being Paris at noon.

Statement 2 is false. SSO is a polar orbit, usually 600–800 km up. Geostationary orbit lies 35 786 km above the equator. No satellite is in both, so SSO is no feature of geostationary communication satellites → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Only Statement 2 is correct — Statement 1 is true, and statement 2 is not. Same local time on every pass is exactly ESA's definition of a Sun-synchronous orbit.
(c)
Both 1 and 2 are correct — Statement 2 is false. Sun-synchronous orbits are polar and low, 600–800 km, while geostationary satellites sit 35 786 km above the equator.
(d)
Neither 1 nor 2 are correct — Statement 1 is true. ESA says SSO satellites pass over the same spot at the same local time, which makes images comparable in light and shadow.

Concept

Orbits are chosen for the job.

A Sun-synchronous orbit is a polar orbit that stays in step with the Sun, so each pass over a place comes at the same local time. Images taken days or years apart are then comparable, which suits Earth observation: weather, floods, forest fires, deforestation.

A geostationary orbit lies 35 786 km above the equator. A satellite there keeps pace with Earth's spin and appears fixed over one spot, which suits telecommunication and weather satellites.

Key facts

A Sun-synchronous orbit is a kind of polar orbit, usually 600–800 km in altitude (ESA).
An SSO satellite passes over the same spot at the same local time every day.
Geostationary satellites orbit 35 786 km above the equator, taking one sidereal day per orbit.
GEO suits telecommunication and weather satellites because they stay over one fixed spot.

Study next

Low, medium and geostationary Earth orbits and what each is used forISRO's launch vehicles and the orbits they serveGeostationary transfer orbit (GTO)

Common traps

Treating 'Sun-synchronous' and 'geostationary' as the same kind of orbit because both sound fixed. One is fixed relative to the Sun, the other relative to the ground.
Accepting statement 2 because communication satellites do run on solar power. The error is the orbit, not the power source.

Orbits and their uses also appear at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.16 (PSLV and the Earth orbits it serves) and 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.25 (satellite types matched to applications).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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