a satellite designed to be released into orbit from another spacecraft
Word origin
[1890–95; sub- + satellite]This word is first recorded in the period 1890–95. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: cholesterol, historicism, phoneme, plein-air, takedownsub- is a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin (subject; subtract; subvert; subsidy). On this model, sub- is freely attached to elements of any origin and used with the meaning “under,” “below,”“beneath” (subalpine; substratum), “slightly,” “imperfectly,” “nearly” (subcolumnar; subtropical), “secondary,” “subordinate” (subcommittee; subplot)
Examples of 'subsatellite' in a sentence
subsatellite
The full dynamics of the subsatellite are composed of its free-flight and the instantaneous impacts.
B. S. Yu, H. Wen 2017, 'Vibroimpact Dynamics of a Tethered Satellite System', Shock and Vibrationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8748094. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
This paper presents the vibroimpact dynamics of an in-plane tethered subsatellite caused by sudden braking during deployment or retrieval.
B. S. Yu, H. Wen 2017, 'Vibroimpact Dynamics of a Tethered Satellite System', Shock and Vibrationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/8748094. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)