Brilliant Dish Installer

[bebop]

Sooo.....since this satellite is in geosynchronous orbit, it makes one revolution per 24 hours. If I did my math right (pi*D), that's 52.7 million miles in 24 hours or just under 2.2 million mph.

I think you are taking it waaaay too far with that one.

 

[Widescreen]

Seems realistic. It's only 351x the distance from the earth to the moon. We get sun fade twice a year. I'm sure at some point the moon will go between one of the satellites and us and we'll lose the signal. Moon fade!

 

[thamac]

If you cant dazzle em with brilliance...baffle em with bs.


That may explain some of the audio synch problems we have sometimes....after all light travels faster than sound

 

[nrholland]

In case anyone doesn't know, satellites have to be at 22,000 miles in space to stay in orbit. If I'm wrong, let me know. Any installers out there who worked at McDonald's a couple of months ago could probably use this information.

 

[HDRoberts]

In case anyone doesn't know, satellites have to be at 22,000 miles in space to stay in orbit. If I'm wrong, let me know. Any installers out there who worked at McDonald's a couple of months ago could probably use this information.

Satellites most definitely do not have to be at 22,000 to be in orbit. Only to stay geosynchronous do the need to be at 22,236 miles (which covers Dish and DirecTV satellites). An altitude of around 100 miles is all that is necessary to get to orbit. The ISS hovers around 200-215 miles, for example.

 

[wetz73]

You can orbit a satellite a millimeter off the surface of the Earth as long as it is going fast enough. In other words, as long as you are in the Earth's gravity well, you can set up an orbit by adjusting velocity. The ISS is currently abou 218 miles above the surface of the Earth, but it has to haul it around at 4.2 miles per second relative velocity. Ciel 2 is roughly 22,000 miles above the Earth's surface, and at that distance relative velocity is 0, meaning geosynchronous orbit.

 

[HDRoberts]

To be fair, he said "stay in orbit". A 1 mm orbit (nor any below 100 miles or so) does not last long.

And while geosynchronous sats have a relative velocity of zero, they are moving at a speed of 1.91 miles per second to match earth's rotation.

 

[Widescreen]

I would think that the further an object is away from earth, the faster it has to travel in order to make 1 revolution in the same time the earth makes 1 revolution. So wouldn't a satellite 22k miles in space have to be moving MUCH faster than a satellite 218 miles up to stay in geosynchronous orbit?

 

[wetz73]

For ease, assume an orbital distance of 22,000 miles and the Earth's radius is 4,000 miles. 2 * pi * radius gives you distance travelled in one day for geosynch orbit. Divide that by 24 hours, then 60 minutes, then 60 seconds and you get roughly 1.9 miles per second.

You have to remember that the ISS isn't in geosynchronous orbit and orbits about once every 90 minutes.

 

[rglore]

Space station flies almost 17,000 mph but the geo orbit sats only go 6,880 mph. Speed needed to stay in orbit decreases the higher up you go. Only the 22,236 miles up orbit has the 24 hour period.

 

[denisincalif]

I would think that the further an object is away from earth, the faster it has to travel in order to make 1 revolution in the same time the earth makes 1 revolution. So wouldn't a satellite 22k miles in space have to be moving MUCH faster than a satellite 218 miles up to stay in geosynchronous orbit?

Yes, except that it is not possible for an object at any distance other than 22K miles to be in geosynchronous orbit unless it has some continuous form of propulsion. All satellites I know about coast once they are in orbit, except for rare occasions when they use fuel (if they have it) to adjust their orbit slightly. The satellites at 218 miles up are most definitely not geosynchronous.

As long as the only force involved is gravity (no propulsion), the further away an object orbits, the slower its average speed. Yes, it has farther to travel. So its orbital period goes up even more than its distance from Earth (or whatever it is orbiting around). For example, if there are two objects orbiting the earth and one is exactly twice as far from the center of the earth as the other, the more distant one will have an orbital period of about 2.83 times as long as the inner one---well over twice the period even though it has only twice as far to go. (Kepler's Third Law)

 

[nrholland]

WRONG

Satellites most definitely do not have to be at 22,000 to be in orbit. Only to stay geosynchronous do the need to be at 22,236 miles (which covers Dish and DirecTV satellites). An altitude of around 100 miles is all that is necessary to get to orbit. The ISS hovers around 200-215 miles, for example.

See....I was wrong. I certainly don't know it all.