Sun synchronous orbits

[Splode]

I'm pretty sure this type of orbit is used for spy satellites, but I have no idea how to set it up. For people who don't know, sun synchronous orbits mean your satellite is always on the day side of the planet.

Also, how much surface coverage does this orbit provide? Ie, how much surface would be mapped if it was an isa mapsat? if it isn't 100%, how would I goabout building a 100% network? Is that even possible?

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 7, 2013 by purpletarget

[Alistone]

Because gravity is only calculated by your SOI and not via a 2-body problem this would have to be outside the kerbin SOI.

The way to do it though would be to have an orbit just inside Kerbin's solar orbit and then tweak it above/below the plane and make it slightly oblong so that you have the same orbital period as Kerbin.

That's my best guess anyways.

[UmbralRaptor]

Sun-synchronous orbits are not possible in KSP because they require non-spherical gravity (eg: Earth's equatorial bulge). This is also why they weren't possible in Orbiter before ~2006.

For Earth, mapping from a sun-synchronous orbit provides near-100% coverage (depending on field of view, some of the poles might be missing).

[purpletarget]

To add to UmbralRaptor's quick and simple answer to the why, I'll also clarify that SSO's are not always on the day side. They are situated so that whenever they pass over the given piece of ground from one day to the next, the sun is at the same relative angle.

Anything that really relies on daylight tend to prefer areas near the terminators, and because of that, those satellites also tend to rarely fall into the shadow of the planet so they don't generally have heavy power storage requirements as other LEO satellites.

[Splode]

That's interesting, thanks everyone! I'll probably try alistone's work around.

[inigma]

So should I remove the SpySat mission from the Age of Satellites campaign?

[lyndonguitar]

This is similar to the langrage points

also, please update us if Alistone's suggestion worked, might be a great workaround for some langrage points as well

Edited June 8, 2013 by lyndonguitar