Is An Earth Orbit That Stays Perpendicular To The Sun Possible?

[InquiringMind]

I hope this isn't too far off topic. Here goes...

I'm trying to determine if it would be possible for a satellite to orbit the earth such that it remained squared to the sun at all times.

It's easier to explain if you imagine a dozen satellites placed equidistant around the earth, all roughly in the same plane, and that

plane perpendicular to a line drawn between the earth and sun. The satellites would always be in sunlight, and never between the

earth and sun.

It seems you would have to adjust the orbit of each satellite every day, otherwise in 3 months or so the satellites would all be parallel

to the line drawn between earth and sun. And if you did that, what type orbit would that be? Does it already have a name, or is it too impossible.

Again, hope it's not too far off topic. I'm hoping someone smarter than I has a simple answer. Please don't use too many big words.

Thanks, Tim

[ferram4]

If I understand this correctly, you want an orbit that where the orbit normal vector points as close to the sun as possible so that the satellite never ends up in the Earth's shadow, correct?

If so, then a Sun-synchronous orbit is probably what you want to look at. It takes advantage of the non-spherical gravity of Earth to subtly change the orientation of the orbit so that the sun is always in the same place relative to the plane of the orbit.

[InquiringMind]

Thanks, Ferram. I had lookes at the ss orbit, but I missed the part:

"by having the osculating orbital plane precess (rotate) approximately one degree each day with respect to the celestial sphere".

Thanks much, that's the answer I was looking for. Tim

[goldenpeach]

[...]

It takes advantage of the non-spherical gravity of Earth to subtly change the orientation of the orbit so that the sun is always in the same place relative to the plane of the orbit.

Even if I already know that, those facts alway remind me that real rocket science is not as simple as in KSP!