In article
tatelephone, Pat
Flannery wrote:

Sylvia Else wrote:

"closer than some geo-stationary satellites" ?

Geo-stationary satellites operate at varying distances?

This could be a screw up with translation, as Russia has used satellites
with highly elliptical orbits (Molniya orbits) that also have a 24 hour
period.

Molniya orbits are 12 hour orbits that are 'approximately
geostationary' at apogee, which they achieve at a latitude of ~63.4
degrees. This inclination ( i=acos(sqrt(1/5)) ) cancels out the
precession in the argument of perigee (i.e. if the apogee starts out at
the Northernmost point in the orbit, it stays there) and is well placed
for those far above the decadent temperate latitudes.

Tundra orbits are the 24 hour orbits at the same latitude, and are
currently used only by Sirius Radio satellites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molniya_orbit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra_orbit

--
David M. Palmer (formerly @clark.net, @ematic.com)