The Neo-Babylonian Empire was a period of Mesopotamian history which began in 626 BC and ended in 539 BC. During the preceding three centuries, Babylonia had been ruled by their fellow Akkadian speakers and northern neighbours, Assyria.
In order for a satellite to successfully orbit the Earth, it must travel a horizontal distance of 8000 meters before falling a vertical distance of 5 meters. A horizontally launched projectile falls a vertical distance of 5 meters in its first second of motion.
Earth is ensnared today in a thick spider web of orbits. Satellites with different assignments fly at different altitudes: U.S. space shuttles are manned satellites of Earth. They usually fly at altitudes around 200 miles above Earth. Rarely, they fly near 400 miles altitude. Russia's orbiting space station Mir is another manned satellite. It maintains its own orbit just above 200 miles altitude. Russian and American navigation satellites guide ships at sea from 100 to 300 miles altitude.