let the
give you his take..
close in a larger body attracts a smaller one evenly yes
but in a larger framework..where the sattelite's are moving at different speeds, even different directions, and some even in variance to the solar plane...and there are lots of them, and they all affect each other...
gravity increases and wanes as a body gets closer and further in proximity to the larger. This affects the path.
that and..think of the slingshot effect of Apollo 13's return from the moon's Orbit.They had to fire their escape rockets at just the right time or they would have been launched on the Wrong Degree of Ellipse..
I'll now step aside so that the people who actually know what they are talking about can explain it better than me..and hopefully correct me where I am categorically wrong.
Warwick
" I have always found that the main obstacle to free
association on these boards is the broad
misconception that what we do not know is more
significant than what we do know."
Warwick L Nixon, March 8, 2019