Satellites

[tsofian]

The Project would probably only have gotten involved in satellites in the very late stages of Classic (between 1985-and the war but would have been almost required to have some investment in satellites in 4th edition.

In the Early era there may not have been enough things in orbit to cause the chain Kessler Syndrome events. Additionally the Morrow Satellites may be in safer higher orbits but with enough fuel to be brought into their working orbits after the war.


In the actual 150 year time-frame a lot of junk will have decayed out and the density, even with all the new satellites and ASAT weapons and such should be far reduced.

Terry

[dragoon500ly]

I keep finding references to something called a Molniya Orbit. According to wikipeida this is:

Geostationary satellites must operate above the equator and therefore appear lower on the horizon as the receiver gets farther from the equator. This will cause problems for extreme northerly latitudes, affecting connectivity and causing multipath interference (caused by signals reflecting off the ground and into the ground antenna).

Thus, for areas close to the North (and South) Pole, a geostationary satellite may appear below the horizon. Therefore, Molniya orbit satellites have been launched, mainly in Russia, to alleviate this problem.

Molniya orbits can be an appealing alternative in such cases. The Molniya orbit is highly inclined, guaranteeing good elevation over selected positions during the northern portion of the orbit. (Elevation is the extent of the satellite's position above the horizon. Thus, a satellite at the horizon has zero elevation and a satellite directly overhead has elevation of 90 degrees.)

The Molniya orbit is designed so that the satellite spends the great majority of its time over the far northern latitudes, during which its ground footprint moves only slightly. Its period is one half day, so that the satellite is available for operation over the targeted region for six to nine hours every second revolution. In this way a constellation of three Molniya satellites (plus in-orbit spares) can provide uninterrupted coverage.

Hmmmm!

[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.