Timeline for Given the orbital radius of a satellite, how is the orbital period calculated?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
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| Apr 3, 2015 at 3:37 | comment | added | Adam Wuerl | The phrase "sitting just outside the body's atmosphere" has no meaning on Earth as the atmosphere doesn't have a hard boundary. Drag is a major consideration for satellites even as high as the International Space Station, at over 400 km of altitude. But yes, you could theoretically orbit a body with no atmosphere just above the surface. Note that close to the ground gravity can no longer be modeled as simply as features like mountains and valleys and density gradients invalidate the assumptions of the simple equations above. | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:15 | comment | added | HDE 226868 | Glad to help! Here's the notation used: math.stackexchange.com/help/notation This (en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/…) and this (en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Advanced_Mathematics) are also helpful. | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:12 | history | edited | Organic Marble | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:10 | comment | added | Organic Marble | Thanks for the cool edit @HDE 226868! I'll have to look at what you did! | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:10 | vote | accept | jazeboo | ||
| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:09 | history | edited | HDE 226868 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:08 | comment | added | Organic Marble | You have to pick either one or the other, because one is a function of the other. It's like the equation X = 2Y. Once you pick a Y, X is determined. Or, if you pick X, Y is determined. Similarly, for circular orbits around the same primary, once you pick t or r, the other is determined. | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:06 | comment | added | jazeboo | i get to pick? would an orbital radius where the satellite is sitting just outside of the body's atmosphere be reasonable? | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 1:00 | comment | added | Organic Marble | you have to pick either t or r and calculate the other. Because orbital period depends on the radius. | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 0:51 | comment | added | jazeboo | sorry, what is the value of r here? | |
| Apr 2, 2015 at 0:22 | history | edited | Organic Marble | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Apr 2, 2015 at 0:16 | history | answered | Organic Marble | CC BY-SA 3.0 |