3 ms·

With a far point so far away from Earth it also means that it requires only tiny amounts of fuel for major orbit changes.

justahuman74 2y ago
My orbital mechanics is (like most people) weak, is this intended as a generalized physical threat to other satellites?
- samplatt 2y ago
  Intended? I don't know, you'd have to ask NASA. Does it have that capability? Sure, if it can deploy arbitrary payloads on destination.
  - kjkjadksj 2y ago
    It has carried payloads before but little is known about its missions.
- everfrustrated 2y ago
  Not necessarily. These types of orbits also have the property that the perceived loiter time is different for the perigee and apogee. At perigee (closest to Earth) it will be moving very fast and so any changes to velocity will have a large impact (easily change orbit). While at apogee it will appear to sit in space and move quite slowly. As an example this is used for the Russian GPS system so their satellites can sit in high earth latitudes for longer needing fewer satellites to cover Russia.
  - xattt 2y ago
    Isn’t GLONASS in geostationary orbit like NAVSTAR/GPS? This would be a fixed orbital distance from Earth. You may be thinking of highly-elliptical molniya/lightning orbits (1), which enabled state TV broadcasts for high-lat places in Siberia. (1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit
    - rcxdude 2y ago
      Gps isn't in geostationary orbit. They're in medium earth orbit and complete an orbit about twice a day
  - inejge 2y ago
    As an example this is used for the Russian GPS system so their satellites can sit in high earth latitudes for longer needing fewer satellites to cover Russia. It's used for communications satellites and is called the Molniya orbit[1]. Their GLONASS (positioning system) satellites use circular medium altitude orbits, but with a higher inclination (about 65 deg vs. GPS's 55 deg). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit
- Rebelgecko 2y ago
  If you can easily adjust your orbit, it's easy to see lots of places on the earth, or tweak what time you will be over a part of the earth (eg if you want to look at something whose owners know to hide it when satellites are overhead)

justahuman74 2y ago

My orbital mechanics is (like most people) weak, is this intended as a generalized physical threat to other satellites?

samplatt 2y ago
Intended? I don't know, you'd have to ask NASA. Does it have that capability? Sure, if it can deploy arbitrary payloads on destination.
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  It has carried payloads before but little is known about its missions.
everfrustrated 2y ago
Not necessarily. These types of orbits also have the property that the perceived loiter time is different for the perigee and apogee. At perigee (closest to Earth) it will be moving very fast and so any changes to velocity will have a large impact (easily change orbit). While at apogee it will appear to sit in space and move quite slowly. As an example this is used for the Russian GPS system so their satellites can sit in high earth latitudes for longer needing fewer satellites to cover Russia.
- xattt 2y ago
  Isn’t GLONASS in geostationary orbit like NAVSTAR/GPS? This would be a fixed orbital distance from Earth. You may be thinking of highly-elliptical molniya/lightning orbits (1), which enabled state TV broadcasts for high-lat places in Siberia. (1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit
  - rcxdude 2y ago
    Gps isn't in geostationary orbit. They're in medium earth orbit and complete an orbit about twice a day
- inejge 2y ago
  As an example this is used for the Russian GPS system so their satellites can sit in high earth latitudes for longer needing fewer satellites to cover Russia. It's used for communications satellites and is called the Molniya orbit[1]. Their GLONASS (positioning system) satellites use circular medium altitude orbits, but with a higher inclination (about 65 deg vs. GPS's 55 deg). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit
Rebelgecko 2y ago
If you can easily adjust your orbit, it's easy to see lots of places on the earth, or tweak what time you will be over a part of the earth (eg if you want to look at something whose owners know to hide it when satellites are overhead)