Definition of "deorbit" in English

verb

1. (transitive) To cause to leave orbit.

   • 1996, DIANE Publishing Company, Intelligence Threat Handbook The principal improvements in the systems are the ability to return film canisters without deorbiting the spacecraft, and the extension of orbital […]
   • First, an orbiting weapon required elaborate spacecraft systems, such as retro-rockets to deorbit it, others to guide it, and still others to arm it.
   • […] process will be initiated and over approximately one year the satellites will be maneuvered into an orbit that will eventually safely deorbit them.

2. (intransitive) Of an orbiting object, such as a satellite: to leave orbit.

   • The Gemini emergency occurred when Gemini 8 deorbited and landed in the Northern Pacific 1000 miles south of Japan.

noun

1. The act or process of leaving orbit.