Originally Posted by CraigD6er
Interesting. The subject of satellites seems to me to ask generate a few questions. I like the idea of hiding satellites by faking failed launches. I'm not sure how long they would survive amongst the debris, the ASAT systems, the radiation and general wear and tear and lack of ground control after so long but it’s certainly a good idea. Personally I had the project not launch any but instead develop their own small satellites and launch vehicles for use 'afterwards'. After all with all the financial backing and technological knowledge, this would be simple for MP to do. If they can hide the power plants, the bolt holes, the armoured vehicle purchases, then a satellite system should be quite feasible too. Satellites in my view would have been pre-built and ready for launch. As technology advances, so do the satellites. Occasionally they and their launch vehicle would be replaced by smaller and more capable designs, until (if you leave your apocalypse date late enough) we get very small satellites that would be launched in clusters on a single rocket, forming their own constellations providing redundancy and better coverage. Such changes of models would be handled by maintenance teams accessing the storage/launch facility to swap out old for new in the same way they can swap old equipment for newer.
A few considerations, whichever route you go:
Firstly, it might be presumed that after the projected apocalypse some satellites would still be functioning. After all, no one has foreseen that so much time would elapse before teams awake (we of course know differently now), so they may well expect that after 5 years either some government satellites or their own prepositioned ones (if launched) are still operational. So the project would probably firstly ensure they have the ability to take control of existing satellites and their feed. Perhaps a dedicated ground station would be needed, redundancy provided by both Prime and Alternate having the same ability. Is it a manned base or does it need visiting to activate/wake the crew? Does one team awake to find instructions to open a nearby bolthole containing a group of techs, wake them and escort them go the ground station?
Secondly, because the project is all about being prepared, it would still be foreseen that some launch capability would be needed in case there are no surviving systems (especially with the development of ASAT systems - anyone remember Salyut 3 and its onboard gun?). Initially this might be attained by acquiring a few old ICBM's and silos, or even a boomer, but as time passes and technology improves I would see an MP subsidiary being a supplier of sounding rockets, with the ability therefore to make some slightly more 'muscular' versions of these and tuck them away for the coming rainy day. So that would need a storage/assembly/launch facility. Is it part of the ground control site or separate? Perhaps it is manned with a crew that has missed its activation call, or maybe a team needs to reach it and activate it themselves? Maybe it can be managed remotely, but the link is down for some reason.
Thirdly what do they actually need satellites for? The most obvious is communications. With their own working network teams can coordinate, bettering their chances of achieving their set goals and making Primes silence even more enigmatic. This is the primary requirement, the rest are not necessarily in the order you may choose.
Navigation is another requirement. This is a function that would work with the comms system, so would be piggy backed off of the same satellite. Not actually essential as they have maps and compass, but a functioning GPS is still nice to have. Plot twist - maybe there's a surviving MP cruise missile available to make best use of this? Whoever controls the ground station could control the missile(s).
Next is some form of sensor package to spot the hot zones, to map the nations damage and to see where is safe if you are relocating survivors.
Also needed would be weather mapping. This becomes essential if you are trying to help survivors become self-sufficient in foods. Yes, people managed for centuries without this, but times have changed and they need all the help they can get.
I also imagine some form of transmission/broadcast facility, so that the project can provide news reports, education and advise to survivors. If you can give communities boxes containing generators, seeds and tools, why not include the means to receive useful information, an MP public broadcast facility? Good PR along with helpful information would help the teams efforts enormously.
I'm not sure imaging in the sense of KH satellites would be perceived as an essential, other than to provide a basic look-see outside the AOR for enemies and their condition, but there may be some facility for this held in reserve. Deep space scientific packages, telescopes etc are way down the list of project priorities.
What size of satellite do they need and what size of rocket? As I said, these would change as advances in technology allow smaller and more capable satellites. I would ultimately expect to see small clusters or constellations of satellites rather than a handful of big ones.
What geographical area needs to be covered? This governs the amount of satellites required, and where they are best launched from. Using existing modules, the emphasis is of course on the USA, with the UK version as represented in The Humber Project as another setting for us Limeys. So you don't for now need global coverage, just enough to cover the projects needs, CONUS or the UK. This does perhaps allow the GM to locate the launch facility somewhere well away from the players start location, because “that's where the optimal launch site is”.
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