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Plotting an orbit



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 8th 09, 05:54 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
metspitzer
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Posts: 71
Default Plotting an orbit

When they show a plot of an eclipse or the orbit of the space shuttle
it always makes a sine wave.
Are there any satellites going around the earth at the poles instead
of the equator?

Does their orbit make a sine wave?
  #2  
Old March 8th 09, 02:14 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
John Doe
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Posts: 1,134
Default Plotting an orbit

metspitzer wrote:

Does their orbit make a sine wave?


A satellite in an equatorial orbit will always remain over latitute 0
and draw a straight line around the earth.

The ISS is at a 51° inclination. From a "globe" perspective, it draws a
neat straight circle around the earth. But when you map this to a flat
map of the earth, it generates the sine wave:

Imagine the orbit path as a hullahoop. An equatorial orbit has the
hollahoop perfectly horizontal.

But give the hullahoop some inclination, and as you project its path
over the planet, you find that it crosses the equator twice. The first
time, it travels north east, and then as it nears the highest position,
its bearing slowly changes to eventually become south east (without
changing direction). It will cross the equator again, and at the
southern hemisphere, its bearing will again change again towards the
north east (repeating that cycle).

This is what generates those sine waves. But the vehicle itself never
actually changes its direction. It bearing changes because it is
relative to the north pole.
  #3  
Old March 8th 09, 03:42 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Danny Deger[_2_]
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Posts: 16
Default Plotting an orbit

On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:54:57 -0500, metspitzer wrote:

When they show a plot of an eclipse or the orbit of the space shuttle
it always makes a sine wave.
Are there any satellites going around the earth at the poles instead
of the equator?

Does their orbit make a sine wave?


There are LOTS of satellites going around the earth at the poles. Many are
close to the pole in what is called a "Sun sync" orbit. Use google on this
term and I am sure you can find what you are looking for.

Danny Deger
  #4  
Old March 8th 09, 06:20 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Bob Haller
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Posts: 3,197
Default Plotting an orbit

On Mar 8, 10:42�am, Danny Deger wrote:
On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:54:57 -0500, metspitzer wrote:
When they show a plot of an eclipse or the orbit of the space shuttle
it always makes a sine wave.
Are there any satellites going around the earth at the poles instead
of the equator?


Does their orbit make a sine wave?


There are LOTS of satellites going around the earth at the poles. �Many are
close to the pole in what is called a "Sun sync" orbit. �Use google on this
term and I am sure you can find what you are looking for.

Danny Deger


Polar orbits are common for military and spy sats and why vandenberg
exists

Before challenger disaster it was supposed to launch the shuttle on
military missions

SL6 was built, kinda poorly and abandoned for shuttle launches
  #5  
Old March 9th 09, 12:52 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
[email protected]
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Posts: 558
Default Plotting an orbit

On Mar 8, 1:20*pm, bob haller wrote:


SL6 was built, kinda poorly and abandoned for shuttle launches


That is a load of bunk. It wasn't poorly constructed
  #7  
Old March 16th 09, 01:18 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
[email protected]
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Posts: 558
Default Plotting an orbit

On Mar 15, 7:32*pm, Marissa Taylor wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 8, 1:20 pm, bob haller wrote:


SL6 was built, kinda poorly and abandoned for shuttle launches


That is a load of bunk. *It wasn't poorly constructed


1. Incorrect. *Several audits found significant quality control issues with
the SLC-6 shuttle launch pad construction.


2. *In addition, the water
suppressant system was found to be incapable of preventing major damage
during a shuttle launch and


3. the equipment would not have withstood the
extra weight of a fully loaded shuttle after the 1986-1988 SRB redesign.


All wrong and far way of base

1. This is no different than any other large project. And that is
the point of the audits. The findings were corrected later
2. No, this was the H2 entrapment problem and a fix was found
3. Totally wrong, it had nothing to do with the pad supporting the
vehicle, it was due to loss of payload capacity
  #8  
Old March 16th 09, 01:23 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Greg D. Moore \(Strider\)
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Posts: 2,865
Default Plotting an orbit

wrote in message
...
On Mar 15, 7:32 pm, Marissa Taylor wrote:
wrote:
On Mar 8, 1:20 pm, bob haller wrote:


SL6 was built, kinda poorly and abandoned for shuttle launches


That is a load of bunk. It wasn't poorly constructed


1. Incorrect. Several audits found significant quality control issues
with
the SLC-6 shuttle launch pad construction.


2. In addition, the water
suppressant system was found to be incapable of preventing major damage
during a shuttle launch and


3. the equipment would not have withstood the
extra weight of a fully loaded shuttle after the 1986-1988 SRB redesign.


All wrong and far way of base

1. This is no different than any other large project. And that is
the point of the audits. The findings were corrected later


-----------------
In other words, "Yes, I was wrong, there were problems, but I'm too arrogant
to admit it.
-----------------

2. No, this was the H2 entrapment problem and a fix was found

----------------
No, the h2 entrapment problem was a separate issue.
----------------

3. Totally wrong, it had nothing to do with the pad supporting the
vehicle, it was due to loss of payload capacity




--
Greg Moore
Ask me about lily, an RPI based CMC.


  #10  
Old March 18th 09, 02:24 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 558
Default Plotting an orbit

No, incorrect
They were fixed. I was in the USAF shuttle program office.
The water suppressant system "issue" was just an urban myth and it had
nothing to do the actual system. It was an unsubstantiated theory
about the sound reflecting of the nearby mountains. Delta IV launches
disproved it

As for the "the equipment would not have withstood the extra weight of
a fully loaded shuttle after the 1986-1988 SRB redesign" is a bunch of
BS.
The redesign did not add a significant amount to the total stack
weight. Just the very thought of this is absurd. The total stack
is 6M lbs and the mods to the SRBs were on the order of a few 10k lbs,
which is less than 1%. The pad was not on the edge of its capability
wrt the total stack weight
 




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