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Satellite constellation spreadsheet


John Cochran

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I've been using a simple spreadsheet that calculates orbital heights and resonate orbits with same for dropping off equally spaces satellites to use as a commnet. Decided to convert the spreadsheet to google docs and make it available to the public here. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SJcB8x4P4t25jtWR-0TS-06R8Dq5OSslS5R964H32UM/edit?usp=sharing

The sheet is only lightly protected in that you'll get a warning if you attempt to modify a field that I didn't intend on having modified. The cells that are intended on being modified have yellow backgrounds.

Additionally, the sheet displays the synchronous orbital altitudes for each planet and moon (background goes red if the orbit is beyond the SOI of the planet or moon) and additionally, gives a "holding altitude" if you wish to precisely position a synchronous satellite over a specific location on the planet. For instance, let's assume you wish to have a synchronous satellite directly over the launch pad at KSC. The longitude for that launchpad is at  74°33'27" W.  Using the spreadsheet, you can see the "Target Underneath" row and get your satellite into a circular orbit with an altitude of 10,343,473 meters. Then wait until you're directly over KSC. Once that happens, perform a retrograde burn to drop your periapsis to  2,862,940.708 meters and when you reach periapsis, circularize your orbit and you should be positioned directly over KSC. If 10,343 kilometers is inconveniently high (after all, it's high enough to be captured by the Mun), you can put a non-zero integer value into the extra orbits cell and instead of circularizing the first time you reach periapsis after your retrograde burn, you add in the number of extra orbits you specified. For instance changing extra orbits from 0 to 1 changes the holding orbit altitude from 10,343 kilometers to 5,673 kilometers. The bottom of the sheet has the calculations for the resonate orbit required to deposit satellites at a desired altitude. It performs the calculations for performing an insertion at the apoapsis of the resonate orbit or the periapsis of the resonate orbit. Just get your bus into the proper orbit and then release and circularize each satellite when the bus reaches the desired apoapsis or periapsis. 

In any case, suggestions and improvements are welcome.

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