[sci.space.shuttle] satellites and orbits

rogers@orion.SRC.Honeywell.COM (Brynn Rogers) (12/09/88)

[lots of stuff about orbits and which satellite it could be deleted]

From my limited knowledge about satellites I do know that a 
very significant percentage of the satellites weight is fuel (hydrazine)
for station keeping, orbit changes, ...

In the TRDSS that got put in the wrong orbit (B? A?) the whole
reason its lifetime went from ten years down to two is because it
wasted 8 years of station keeping fuel to finish boosting it into the
correct geosyncronous (sp?) (Clark orbit=Geosync?) orbit.
  When that fuel is gone it will drift into crummy positions that
won't be useful.

I would guess that very substantial orbital changes could be made with
this new milsat to put it where ever it is wanted.
(only up to a point, if they want to visit it with a shuttle it
would have to move back to a orbit where it could be reached.
Of course one reason the shuttle visits it is to add fuel.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Brynn Rogers  rogers@src.honeywell.com 
				  'seek out new life and civilizations'

jwm@stdb.jhuapl.edu (Jim Meritt) (12/14/88)

In article <13171@srcsip.UUCP> rogers@orion.UUCP (Brynn Rogers) writes:
}
}[lots of stuff about orbits and which satellite it could be deleted]
}
}From my limited knowledge about satellites I do know that a 
}very significant percentage of the satellites weight is fuel (hydrazine)
}for station keeping, orbit changes, ...
}
}In the TRDSS that got put in the wrong orbit (B? A?) the whole
}reason its lifetime went from ten years down to two is because it
}wasted 8 years of station keeping fuel to finish boosting it into the
}correct geosyncronous (sp?) (Clark orbit=Geosync?) orbit.
}  When that fuel is gone it will drift into crummy positions that
}won't be useful.

And therein lies the biggest problem with meterological satellites.
It takes gas to move those suckers to look at the right places.  When
they out of gas, there they sit.

Ask around about Goes.

BTW:  There are non-hydrazine (non propellant, in fact) methods of
maneuvering satellites, but they ain't (to my knowledge) fast.


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					- D. Duck