Re: StarLink orbits

From: Bill Bard via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2020 06:45:05 -0400
It just seems that when you have 7500 satellites in a 550km circular orbit, that satellites closing at 12km/sec over the equator would be impossible to maneuver each orbit to avoid. I assume the orbits are slightly elliptical so says on the ascending node are somewhat above it below those on the descending node, I’m curious if any are at their operational height, what that difference is.

My other question is when one dies suddenly and it’s orbit begins to decay, how the miss distance will change.

It seems with a constellation of 7500 satellites, you’ll have many satellites continually dying. Dodging them would seem to be very difficult for such a large constellation.

Bill

> On Mar 12, 2020, at 11:19 PM, Anthony Mallama <anthony.mallama_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Bill,
> 
> It's mostly a question of scale. The equator is about 40,000 km in circumference at the altitude of Starlink, while the satellites are just a tiny fraction of one km in size. The satellites can also maneuver to avoid collisions.
> 
> Tony Mallama
> 


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Received on Fri Mar 13 2020 - 05:45:51 UTC

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