Shooting a satellite straight up

From what I understand, when we send satellites into space
we more or less send them in the plane of the soloar system.
One of the reasons for this is to use the gravitational force
of the planets (and moons) to slingshot them to where we want
to investigate.

Have we ever shot a satellite straight up (perpendicular to
the plane of the planets)? Would there be anything of interest
to discover by doing this? What would be the cost to knowledge
gained ratio?

Philip:
Are you talking about a polar orbit of the Sun or a polar
orbit of the Earth? If the latter, try a Google under 'polar orbit'.
Lots of satellites have been put in polar Earth orbit. oc

(Bill Sheppard) wrote in news:2666-4393817E-1014
@storefull-3177.bay.webtv.net:

Philip:
Are you talking about a polar orbit of the Sun or a polar
orbit of the Earth? If the latter, try a Google under 'polar orbit'.
Lots of satellites have been put in polar Earth orbit. oc

No, I'm talking about sending a satellite straight up and out. Point
it perpendicular to the "planet plane" and just let it keep going. Not
putting in orbit but sending it as far "up" as possible (for the life
of the satellite).

"Philip Henshaw" wrote in message
...
(Bill Sheppard) wrote in news:2666-4393817E-1014
@storefull-3177.bay.webtv.net:

Philip:
Are you talking about a polar orbit of the Sun or a polar
orbit of the Earth? If the latter, try a Google under 'polar orbit'.
Lots of satellites have been put in polar Earth orbit. oc

No, I'm talking about sending a satellite straight up and out. Point
it perpendicular to the "planet plane" and just let it keep going. Not
putting in orbit but sending it as far "up" as possible (for the life
of the satellite).


Energy cost would be high, for reason you give (no gravitational assist
orbits).

Not being in the planetary plane would make no difference to any planetary
observations or observations outside the solar system. It would allow us the
measure solar fluxes (eg charged particles emitted by the Sun) away from its
rotational plane (which is the same as the planetary plane). This in turn
would give us more infromation about the Sun's magnetic field.

So some scientific value, but not a lot.

"Peter Webb" wrote in message
u...

"Philip Henshaw" wrote in message
...
(Bill Sheppard) wrote in news:2666-4393817E-1014
@storefull-3177.bay.webtv.net:

Philip:
Are you talking about a polar orbit of the Sun or a polar
orbit of the Earth? If the latter, try a Google under 'polar orbit'.
Lots of satellites have been put in polar Earth orbit. oc

No, I'm talking about sending a satellite straight up and out. Point
it perpendicular to the "planet plane" and just let it keep going. Not
putting in orbit but sending it as far "up" as possible (for the life
of the satellite).


Energy cost would be high, for reason you give (no gravitational assist
orbits).

Not being in the planetary plane would make no difference to any planetary
observations or observations outside the solar system. It would allow us the
measure solar fluxes (eg charged particles emitted by the Sun) away from its
rotational plane (which is the same as the planetary plane). This in turn
would give us more infromation about the Sun's magnetic field.

So some scientific value, but not a lot.

A gravity-well manoeuvre can serve to change the
plane of the orbit. See, for example, the Ulysses
probe:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu...r/ulysses.html

The perfect Satellite launch would be from locations at the equator. The
speed of the Earth's rotation is greatest at the equator and is used to
supplement the rocket itself and its boosters. Rockets are not launched
straight up, but rather at a shallow angle towards the East. The trick to
entering orbit is to reach "Escape Velocity", the speed at which the
centrifugal outward force of an object surpasses the Earth's gravitational
pull. This speed is around 18,000mph. This is roughly the speed of most
geostationary low orbit objects, such as the new Space Station and the
Hubble. Their centrifugal force and the Earth's gravitational pull are in
balance and thus allow the objects to maintain a stable orbit. Small jets
are used occasionally for orbital corrections, by either speeding the
objects up or slowing them down a tad to increase or decrease their orbital
distances.



"Philip Henshaw" wrote in message
...
From what I understand, when we send satellites into space
we more or less send them in the plane of the soloar system.
One of the reasons for this is to use the gravitational force
of the planets (and moons) to slingshot them to where we want
to investigate.

Have we ever shot a satellite straight up (perpendicular to
the plane of the planets)? Would there be anything of interest
to discover by doing this? What would be the cost to knowledge
gained ratio?

"Hagar" wrote in message ...

A few quibbles with your post...

The perfect Satellite launch would be from locations at the equator. The
speed of the Earth's rotation is greatest at the equator and is used to
supplement the rocket itself and its boosters. Rockets are not launched
straight up, but rather at a shallow angle towards the East. The trick to
entering orbit is to reach "Escape Velocity", the speed at which the
centrifugal outward force of an object surpasses the Earth's gravitational
pull. This speed is around 18,000mph.

Not quite. If a rocket achieves escape velocity it will, well,
escape! It won't orbit, but will continue to recede from the
Earth.

For any given distance from the Earth the escape velocity is
equal to the circular orbital velocity multiplied by the square
root of 2.

This is roughly the speed of most
geostationary low orbit objects, such as the new Space Station and the
Hubble.

The space station and Hubble are not in geostationary orbits; they
are in low Earth orbits (LEO). Geostationary orbits, where the
orbital period equals the Earth's rotation rate, are quite a bit
further out -- at 35,786 km above mean sea level.

Their centrifugal force and the Earth's gravitational pull are in
balance and thus allow the objects to maintain a stable orbit. Small jets
are used occasionally for orbital corrections, by either speeding the
objects up or slowing them down a tad to increase or decrease their orbital
distances.

From "Hagar":

18,000mph.. is roughly the speed of
most geostationary low orbit objects,
such as the new Space Station and the
Hubble.

WHAT?? Geostationary and 'low orbit' are oxymoronic. To be geostationary
(or geosynchronous), an object must be at an altitude of about 22,000
miles above the equator, where the orbital speed is about 3,403 mph.
That's the only way it can "park" in a stationary spot relative to the
earth. oc

You lose the speed of the Earth's rotation by doing that. Wasteful!

The slingshot effect only occurs later on when the sat. passes another
planet/sat. in just the right way.

Saul Levy


On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 14:17:23 -0600, Philip Henshaw
wrote:

From what I understand, when we send satellites into space
we more or less send them in the plane of the soloar system.
One of the reasons for this is to use the gravitational force
of the planets (and moons) to slingshot them to where we want
to investigate.

Have we ever shot a satellite straight up (perpendicular to
the plane of the planets)? Would there be anything of interest
to discover by doing this? What would be the cost to knowledge
gained ratio?

Philip Henshaw wrote:
From what I understand, when we send satellites into space
we more or less send them in the plane of the soloar system.
One of the reasons for this is to use the gravitational force
of the planets (and moons) to slingshot them to where we want
to investigate.

Have we ever shot a satellite straight up (perpendicular to
the plane of the planets)? Would there be anything of interest
to discover by doing this? What would be the cost to knowledge
gained ratio?




Greetings,
I take it by that you mean out of the plane of the ecliptic, which is
itself inclined at an angle of something like 23 deg around the sun. If
you aimed a satellite in line with our polar axis, it would be at,
what's that, 67 deg I think. A few satellites have been launched out of
the plane of the ecliptic, but I'm not sure whether at what angle.
Regards,
Ray.