Satellite Orbits
« Previous EntriesSatellite Coverage Areas
Saturday, November 7th, 2009Coverage refers to that portion of the earth’s surface over which SATCOM services are provided. Global coverage is defined as that coverage of all longitudes and latitudes and geographic regions. There are five primary overlapping geographical regions:
CONUS
ATLANTIC
INDIAN OCEAN
PACIFIC
NORTH POLAR REGIONS
A sixth region, the South Polar Region has had no requirements to date but it may receive increased emphasis as new requirements emerge for that part of the world.
Orbital Parking
Monday, September 21st, 2009A satellite launched into geostationary orbit is said to be “parked” into a pre-assigned slot. This is similar to parking cars in a parking lot. Some parking slots are better than others and the best slots fill up first. Satellites can be positioned into slots where they can cover the most area for specific types of communications.
Polar Orbit
Saturday, September 12th, 2009A polar orbit is any orbit, which has an inclination of or very close to 90 degrees. A satellite in a polar orbit passes over (or very close to) the north and south poles on every pass.
Geostationary Orbit
Saturday, September 5th, 2009This type of orbit is named the “Clarke Orbit” after the visionary science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke who, in 1945, first described its use for orbiting communication stations. The geostationary orbit is a special type of geosynchronous orbit. This orbit is at 22,300 miles from the surface of the earth. The satellites in this orbit are positioned very close together and the orbit inclination is near zero. The orbit is as circular as possible, therefore eccentricity is near zero.
The geostationary orbit has become the world’s standard for most communications satellites with hundreds of satellites following each other. This orbit is highly controlled to prevent overcrowding of the orbit, space debris, and unauthorized use of resources.
Geosynchronous Orbit
Saturday, August 29th, 2009In a geosynchronous orbit, a satellite’s motion is synchronized with an area of the earth below it and centered on the equator. The satellite completes an orbit in the same 24-hour period as the earth’s rotation. From the earth, such a satellite appears to be stationary in the sky.
A satellite with this orbit is considered to be in a high altitude orbit at approximately 13,000 to 23,000 miles above the surface of the earth. A geosynchronous orbit is said to be inclined when the plane of the satellite’s orbit is at an angle to the plane of the earth’s equator. For inclinations other than zero degrees, a geosynchronous satellites ground trace will be a figure eight straddling the equator. « Previous Entries