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Setting up a Geocycronous Orbit with Remote Tech


toomuchbrew

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Greetings, I was wondering what the most efficient way to set a satellite in GEO with Remote Tech is. Do I just burn vertical until I get about 100km apoapsis and then burn horizontal to get an orbit and then burn to make the apoapsis on the opposite side of the planet to about 2800km and then wait until the KSC is under the new apoapsis and make the periapsis 2800km? Seems like it uses a lot of fuel. Remote tech makes it tough which is what I've wanted. Am I going about it correctly?

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Burning vertical until the desired altitude and then turning horizontal is the least optimal way to do it.

The best way to reach GEO is to perform an ordinary gravity turn, but don't let off the gas until your apoapsis is at 3468.75 km. circularize at apo like any other orbit.

The one catch is that if you are launching your first satellite with remotetech, you can't let it get out of view of mission control. So, a slightly suboptimal ascent is needed.

Basically you want a compromise between the fully horizontal burn, and the vully vertical burn such that your apoapsis is just above the eastern horizon from the point of view of KSC. That way, you can raise your apo while you have control of the rocket.

If you need to fine-tune the phase of the orbit, don't circularize completely, leave your peri down lower so your orbital period is shorter than a kerbin day, then go around a few times until the apo is where you want it and circularize. Or if you want to do the math, figure out exactly what orbital period you need to place your apo correctly in one orbit ;)

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I would suggest you put your initial RemoteTech network up around kerbin with a manned craft. Its possible to send a manned orbiter with 6 little relay satellites attached. This way you dont need to time launch or orbital manuvs to keep contact with KSC.

You can launch strait to geosync alt, make a nice round orbit, drop first sat. To deploy the other 5 just burn retro to reduce your orbital perdiod by 1 hour (a geosync orbit being just over 6 hours). When you come back around to apo circularize again, drop next sat......then do it all again.

Once your done you should have 6 sats evenly spaced around equator in geosync...can launch the rest of the network unmanned with no problems from there.

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It seems to be more important to have an orbit of exactly 6h than to have AP and PE at exact values.

To be precise: if you have an orbital period of 6 hours, you will remain synchronized with the planet. But if your inclination or apoapsis/periapsis are off, then your satellite will move in a track across the sky, returning to exactly the same spot over the planet every six hours. (For RemoteTech purposes this does not make much of a difference as long as your orbital period is right and the rest is reasonably accurate.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Having a few 45 degree geostationary satellites is actually a good way to increase coverage while still having a predictable distance to other satellites.

If you install Kerbal Engineer Redux you can display your orbital period, which makes geo sats much easier to get accurate.

Also, use a small tank of RCS to fine tune your orbital period, and thrust slightly offset from North/South or Up/Down to get those last fractions of a second correct.

Good luck :)

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You might also consider a semi-synchronous orbit for your communications satellites. It maintains the benefits of a geostationary orbit (for the most part) while still remaining in omni-antenna range, for both the other 2 satellites in the constellation, as well as ground control.

Also, I'd suggest you carry all three comsats up in one manned vessel and deploy them simultaneously. I used a NASA style space shuttle for mine, for example.

Make sure the satellites have a low power RCS or ion engine. Engines so they can adjust their orbit to it's final position, 120 degrees seperated from the other satellites, and low power so you can accurately adjust the orbital period to within plus or minus 0.1 seconds of 3 hours. You'll need Kerbal Engineer redux for that last part too.

Edited by Firov
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