2k views

Difference between Tundra and Molniya orbits?

This excellent answer nicely describes both Tundra orbits and Molniya orbits. They are both repeat groundtrack orbits with periods of rational fractions of a sidereal day, and both have inclinations ...
1k views

Are sun synchronous orbits possible for any place on Earth?

Do sun-synchronous orbit pass any spot around Earth at a specified local time? If yes or no, what is the reason? (I know that this type of orbit passes everywhere at the equator at the same local time....
2k views

The strange orbit of Ofeq 11 - how does it (actually) do this?

I assume the retrograde orbit ($\theta_{inc}=142°$) is a side-effect of geography - ocean overfly access only lies West of the secured launch site - this article in Spaceflight 101 makes several ...
464 views

How long does it take for ISS to travel over all possible places of the world one time?

ISS has an inclination of about 56 degrees but because his orbit is not exactly a whole part of 24 hours, ISS will the next day be above other places. So after a while he has 'visited' most of the ...
2k views

How do I determine the ground-track period of a LEO satellite?

I was analyzing a LEO satellite with polar orbit for work purposes. I am relatively new to the field of Satellite orbits. I know that TLE can give information about the current & future orbits ...
777 views

What (actually) is a 1:1 resonance, and is 2016 HO3 in one with the Earth?

In my question How was Earth's "quasi-satellite" 2016 HO3 "first spotted" and it's orbit determined? I link to two videos of simulations of views of 2016 HO3's orbit seen in two different frames. ...
271 views

Trying to understand the two “holes” in this alt/az plot of the ISS

I'm plotting the position of satellites in the sky using Skyfield. If I project the .altaz() data on to a rectangle (in a similar fashion to the way ground track ...
270 views

How long would a satellite fly on a sun-synchronous 600km orbit?

How long would it take for a 12U cubesat on a circular polar orbit with altitude 600 km to fall down to 500 km? Please, add references/calculations to your answer.