Synchronous Satellites over Duna - Constantly Ejected

[Kobymaru]

Hi!
I wanted to set up a relay-network for RemoteTech around Duna. For this, I wanted to use the classical Synchronous (Duna-Stationary), three Sattellite set-up.

Of course, Ike, that **** rock is in the way. Right on my desired orbit. However, I thought I was being smart and set up a synchronous orbit way outside of the Ike SOI:

(if I didn't make a calculation mistake, the Ike SOI should be to scale)

So I spent quite an amount of time to position those satellites perfectly. They had minimal deviation in distance and they were synchronized to the tenth of a second.

Then one got ejected. I thought I maybe made a mistake, and somehow it actually got into Ike's SOI. I fixed up the other two as exact as I could.
Then another one got ejected. And this makes me quite mad actually, since this time I am 100% sure that they were positioned and synchronized perfectly.

So I have 2 questions:
a) Is it just me, or does Ike grow when everyone is asleep and devours all poor little Duna-synchronous sattelites?
b) How do you RemoteTech around Duna?

Edited January 27, 2016 by Kobymaru

[Coga19000]

Well, Ike is not only in a synchronous orbit around Duna, but also tidally locked. Therefore, at least one of your problems can be solved by landing a comms probe on Ike's light side.

[Boris-Barboris]

del, better answer above. 1 on Ike surface, facing Duna, 4 others on any orbit above Ike's SOI thorus. Edited November 16, 2015 by Boris-Barboris

[Alshain]

The simpler solution is to just set up in a different orbit. Synchronous offers little advantage. Duna is the easiest place to cover because of Ike's proximity. Unlike Mun and Minmus, you don't need extra antennas to get to Ike.
My chosen method is lower than Ike at around 2000km. For this you only need Communotron 32's for interlinks which also covers other vessels anywhere in LDO as well as Ike itself. However this also has the drawback of being blocked by Ike and Duna simultaneously, which means ALL of your 3 satellites must have long range dishes to Kerbin to prevent it (all 3 cannot be blocked, it's impossible... except by the sun). You also still have to cover the back side of Ike for full coverage, but the good news there is you just need C32's to do it since Ike is in range of your Duna satellites (C16's might work, but I'm not confident that Ike wouldn't occasionally fall out of range of the Duna satellites).

I've tried matching orbits with a moon, but as you found out they always seem to get ejected, no matter how close you try to match their orbital period. Edited November 16, 2015 by Alshain

[Snark]

Yes, RemoteTech really doesn't need synchronous, for any planet. Your goal is just to completely cover the surface of the planet, right? So all you need are satellites that are synchronous [I][U]with each other[/U][/I]. There's no particular reason that they need to be synchronous with the [I][U]surface of the planet[/U][/I]. So you can just put a few satellites in a somewhat lower orbit and they'll never intersect Ike at all.

The other thing you want besides coverage of the planet's surface is a long-range link back to Kerbin. You can do that by just putting a single interplanetary relay satellite at a very high (i.e. much higher than Ike) circular polar orbit. Give it a long-range link back to Kerbin, and then hook up your low-altitude satellites to the relay.

[Alshain]

[quote name='Snark']The other thing you want besides coverage of the planet's surface is a long-range link back to Kerbin. You can do that by just putting a single interplanetary relay satellite at a very high (i.e. much higher than Ike) circular polar orbit. Give it a long-range link back to Kerbin, and then hook up your low-altitude satellites to the relay.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, forgot, that is an option alternative to a long range on each of the 3 satellites. In this case, the satellites at a 2000km orbit I mentioned earlier should have a stable range at 5400km with the C32's, which is well clear of Ike (if you do this I would add a safety margin and do 5000km, still clear of Ike).

[U][B]However[/B][/U] you still need at least two of these new satellites to avoid being blocked by either Duna or Ike (you can't be blocked by both if they are in exact opposing positions, since Ike would be behind your second satellite while the first is behind Duna). By the time you factor in the cost of batteries and probes and fuel and engines, I think simply putting 3 long range on the lower satellites is still cheaper. Only 2 of those can possibly be blocked at a time.

[Kobymaru]

Thanks for your input guys! The basic idea with the Duna-Synchronous sattelites was that I could set directional antennas on Duna to one sattelite and never worry about it. However, with the Omnidirectionals being in range for almost everything, this becomes obsolete. I think I will switch to that.

[quote name='Coga19000']Well, Ike is not only in a synchronous orbit around Duna, but also tidally locked. Therefore, at least one of your problems can be solved by landing a comms probe on Ike's light side.[/QUOTE]
That's a nice idea, but I'm still afraid of Satellites getting ejected at high timewarp.

[quote name='Snark']Yes, RemoteTech really doesn't need synchronous, for any planet. Your goal is just to completely cover the surface of the planet, right? So all you need are satellites that are synchronous [I][U]with each other[/U][/I]. There's no particular reason that they need to be synchronous with the [I][U]surface of the planet[/U][/I]. So you can just put a few satellites in a somewhat lower orbit and they'll never intersect Ike at all.

The other thing you want besides coverage of the planet's surface is a long-range link back to Kerbin. You can do that by just putting a single interplanetary relay satellite at a very high (i.e. much higher than Ike) circular polar orbit. Give it a long-range link back to Kerbin, and then hook up your low-altitude satellites to the relay.[/QUOTE]
I like this option! The only problem is that it will be slightly annoying if the high altitude sattellite link is blocked by Ike or Duna. But I'll figure something out for that.

[quote name='Alshain'][U][B]However[/B][/U] you still need at least two of these new satellites to avoid being blocked by either Duna or Ike (you can't be blocked by both if they are in exact opposing positions, since Ike would be behind your second satellite while the first is behind Duna). By the time you factor in the cost of batteries and probes and fuel and engines, I think simply putting 3 long range on the lower satellites is still cheaper. Only 2 of those can possibly be blocked at a time.[/QUOTE] I think I'll do that.

I'm planning to have a base near the poles, so I wanted to put a Molnia Sattelite above it. Maybe I can use this as a backup link in case the high one gets obstructed.