Satellites

[mmartin798]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

I keep finding references to something called a Molniya Orbit

These orbits are useful, but they pose some problems for the life of a satellite. The orbit, by necessity, crosses through the VanAllen belts 4 times a day, exposing them to a great deal of radiation. Also, these orbits do have a perigee altitude of about 500km, putting them into the debris field of satellites destroyed during the war.

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by mmartin798

These orbits are useful, but they pose some problems for the life of a satellite. The orbit, by necessity, crosses through the VanAllen belts 4 times a day, exposing them to a great deal of radiation. Also, these orbits do have a perigee altitude of about 500km, putting them into the debris field of satellites destroyed during the war.

So everything boils back to just how much of the debris has fallen back into the atmosphere...

[ChalkLine]

The lighter stuff would decay out quickly. The heavier stuff would continue making ongoing collisions for a very long time.

Also the infrastructure behind keeping satellites up is really big and constantly at work. I don't think the Project could relaunch new satellites until maybe twenty to fifty years after resettlement

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by ChalkLine

The lighter stuff would decay out quickly. The heavier stuff would continue making ongoing collisions for a very long time.

Also the infrastructure behind keeping satellites up is really big and constantly at work. I don't think the Project could relaunch new satellites until maybe twenty to fifty years after resettlement

Wonder if it would of any use to have pre-packaged satellites ready to launch upon recall?

[nuke11]

You don't really need to launch a satellite after the war, you launch them before and hide them.

MPI under a cover company launch a rocket with a constellation of satellites (maybe 2 or 3), the boaster fails to release the satellites (in fact the official word is the system completely fails and can't release them ever due to sabotage) in their intended orbit. The boaster ends up in a much higher orbit and is declared lost and unrecoverable. The company takes a big financial hit and losses the pending contracts and closes down quietly (this is all planned as the cover). The control of the boaster is given to another cover MPI company. In time, say over a year or two, the satellite ends up in Lagrande Point 4 or 5, where it sits waiting to be recalled back to earth orbit by TMP.