Exercise 2 – Satellite Orbits and Coverage  Discussion

Satellite

Subsatellite Point

Location 2

Location 1

Earth

nadir angle slant range

central angle altitude of the satellite
elevation radius of the earth
geocentric radius of the satellite ( )

Figure 41. Satellite coverage geometry.

a The oblateness of the earth is neglected in Figure 41 and in the following

equations.

The following are relationships between the angles and distances shown in
Figure 41:

90 (19)

cos sin

sin sin

The nadir angle from the satellite to the limit of visibility ( 0°) is:

sin (20)

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Exercise 2 – Satellite Orbits and Coverage  Discussion

The slant range is the distance from the earth station to the satellite. The
angles , , and and the slant range can be calculated in several different
ways, as shown below.

Using the slant range :

(21)
cos
2 2

cos
2

sin
2 2

Using the elevation :

sin cos (22)

cos cos

cos sin

Using the nadir angle :

sin sin (23)

cos sin

cos sin

Using the central angle :

sin (24)
tan
cos

cos cos ⁄
tan tan
sin sin

2 cos

1 2 cos

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Exercise 2 – Satellite Orbits and Coverage  Discussion

As the satellite moves along its orbit, the footprint of the antenna or sensor
sweeps over an area called the swath. The width of the swath on the
earth's surface, when the antenna or sensor is oriented in the nadir direction, is:

4 (25)
β in degrees
360
2 β in radians

The area that is covered by an antenna or sensor on the satellite that has a
conical footprint is:

2 1 cos (26)

The fraction of the earth’s surface that is covered by an antenna or sensor on the
satellite that has a conical footprint is:

(27)
0.5 1 cos

Figure 42 shows the relative altitude of different types of satellites and their
approximate visibility, down to an elevation of 0°. Note that the greater the
altitude, the larger the visibility contour. The zones of usable visibility, considering
a minimum practical elevation, are somewhat smaller than those shown.

A LEO satellite is visible from

roughly 2% to 10% of the earth.

A MEO satellite A GEO satellite is visible from

is visible from approximately 42% of the earth.
roughly 24% to
38% of the earth.

Figure 42. Visibility provided by different types of orbits.

Useful orbits for satellite communications and their coverage

Geostationary earth orbit (GEO)

One of the most widely used type of orbit is the geostationary orbit which is a
circular ( 0), equatorial ( 0°), geosynchronous orbit. At present, there are
roughly 200 GEO satellites in operation.

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Exercise 1 – Orbital Mechanics  Discussion

Under ideal conditions, (a perfectly spherical central body and no perturbations),

the first five orbital elements in Table 2 are constants. In reality, however, they
tend to change slowly. In some cases, especially for GEO satellites, regular
corrections using thrusters commanded by the control segment on the ground
are required to keep the satellite close to the desired orbit. For this reason, the
epoch for a set of orbital elements usually applies to all of the orbital elements,
not just to the anomaly.

The first two Keplerian elements a and e were illustrated in Figure 18. Figure 31
shows a satellite in orbit and illustrates the ascending and descending nodes, the
orbital state vectors r and v, and the Keplerian elements , , , and . These
orbital elements are defined below.

Line of Apsides

ZECI

Satellite Perigee
v
Orbital Plane
r
Descending
Node


Equatorial Plane


Ascending
Node
XECI YECI
(Vernal Equinox )
Line of Nodes

Apogee

Inclination (the angle between the equatorial and orbital planes)

 RAAN (the angle in the equatorial plane from the vernal equinox to the ascending node)
Argument of perigee (the angle in the orbital plane from the ascending node to the perigee)
 True anomaly (the angle in the orbital plane between the perigee and the satellite)

Figure 31. Keplerian elements i, , , and  and state vectors r and v.

The orbit describes an ellipse the plane of which passes through the center of the
earth. Unless the orbit is in the plane of the equator, the intersection of the orbital
plane with the equatorial plane forms a line called the line of nodes.

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Exercise 1 – Orbital Mechanics  Discussion

 The nodes are the two points of the orbit that intersect the equatorial
plane. The node where orbit crosses the equatorial plane from south to
north is called the ascending node. The other node is called the
descending node.

Although it is not a geo-  The angle, measured at the center of the earth, from the vernal equinox
graphical coordinate, the eastward to the ascending node is called the right ascension of the
RAAN is sometimes called ascending node  or RAAN.
the longitude of the ascend-
ing node. The inclination is defined as the angle, measured at the ascending node,
between the equatorial plane and the orbital plane. It ranges from 0° to 180° (0 to
 radians).
 An orbit with inclination near 0° is called an equatorial orbit because the
satellite is always nearly over the equator.
 An orbit with inclination near 90° is called a polar orbit because the
satellite crosses over the North and South poles.
 When the inclination is within 0° and 90°, the direction of the orbit is more
or less the same as the direction of the earth's rotation. This type of orbit
is called direct or prograde orbit.
 When the inclination is greater than 90°, the direction of the orbit is
opposite to the direction of the earth's rotation. This type of orbit is called
a retrograde orbit.
 An orbit with an inclination of 180° is a retrograde equatorial orbit.

a Strictly speaking, inclination is never negative, since it is measured at the

ascending node. In some cases, however, the concept of negative inclination
is useful. For example, the inclination of geostationary satellites tends to drift
slowly towards more positive values. To maintain the inclination near zero,
thrusters are fired periodically to reduce the inclination to a slightly negative
value, after which it begins to drift positive again.
In the LVSAT Orbit Simulator, inclination can be set between ±180°.

The RAAN and the inclination define the plane of the orbit. When the eccentricity
of the orbit is greater than zero, there is one point in the orbit where the satellite
is closest to the earth and this is called the perigee. The point at the opposite
side of the ellipse, where the satellite is furthest from the earth, is called the
apogee. The distance between the apogee and the perigee is the major axis of
the ellipse.
 The angle, measured at the center of the earth, from the ascending node
eastward to the perigee is called the argument of perigee . This angle
specifies the orientation of the ellipse in the orbital plane.

Perigee and periapsis

For an elliptical orbit about any central body, an apsis, plural apsides, is the point
of least distance (called periapsis) or greatest distance (called apoapsis) in the
orbit from the principal focus of the ellipse. The line along these two points is
called the line of apsides and is collinear with the major axis of the ellipse.
When referring to orbits about the earth, the two apsides are called perigee and
apogee. For orbits around the Sun, they are called perihelion and aphelion. In
any term with the word perigee, the word periapsis can be used instead, for
example argument of periapsis .

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Exercise 1 – Orbital Mechanics  Discussion

The five orbital elements , , , , and  completely define the path of the
elliptical orbit. In order to specify exactly where in the orbit the satellite is located
at any particular time, an angle must be specified.

Anomalies

An anomaly is an angle defining the instantaneous position of an orbiting body

with respect to the perigee. There are three types of anomaly commonly used;
each one varies from 0° to 360° (or 0 to 2 radians) as the satellite completes
one orbit:

is the Greek letter Nu  The true anomaly , shown in Figure 31 and in Figure 32, is the true
angular position of the satellite. It is the angle, measured from the center
of the earth, between the perigee and the radius vector of the satellite.
According to Kepler's second law, a satellite’s speed is greatest at the
perigee and least at the apogee. Therefore, when the eccentricity is
greater than zero, the true anomaly does not increase uniformly with
time.

The equation for an ellipse

in polar form, relative to one
focus, is
Auxiliary Circle

a
Elliptic Orbit Satellite


E
Apogee Perigee
a a cos E Earth

ae

The linear eccentricity of Semi-major axis  True anomaly

an ellipse is the distance Eccentricity Eccentric anomaly
between the center and one Linear eccentricity Apogee radius
focus of the ellipse.
Radius vector Perigee radius

Figure 32. True anomaly and eccentric anomaly .

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