How do the remote sensing satellites “cover” the Earth?
The Earth Observation satellites move in a “near polar” orbit. As the Earth spins west to east beneath them, they orbit from the North Pole down to the South Pole, back up to the North Pole, etc., each time passing close to, but not exactly over the poles. These two motions (the satellite orbit and the rotation of the Earth) make it possible for them to see almost the entire surface of the Earth.
