verb
- to remove (a spacecraft or satellite) from orbit, typically by firing thrusters to slow it down so it falls back to Earth or another celestial body
Usage: technical; aerospace
Examples
- The space station will deorbits the old satellite next month.
- NASA deorbits defunct spacecraft to prevent space debris.
- The spacecraft deorbits from its high altitude orbit to begin reentry.
- Engineers calculated when to deorbits the probe so it would land safely.
- The mission control team deorbits the satellite in a controlled manner.