Kerbosynchronous orbits (0.24)

[AlexinTokyo]

Apologies if this has been covered, I can't seem to find it.

Since Kerbin's rotation was accelerated in 0.24, the synchronous orbit parameters have changed. I think the new values are as follows; can anyone confirm?

Orbital period: 9,203,545 s (from Wiki, unchanged from 0.23.5)

Solar day: 21,600 s (by definition - 6 hours)

Sidereal day: 21,549.42519 s (calculated, = 5:59:9.42519)

Synchronous orbital period = sidereal day = 5:59:9.42519 = 21,549.42519 s

Kerbostationary orbital altitude: 2,863.33406 km (radius = 3,463.33406 km)

KSO velocity: 1,009.807 m/s

Does that look about right?

[MarvinKitFox]

The simple way to know when you are in the right spot, is when your ground speed approaches zero.

[AlexinTokyo]

Yes, but I'm bored at work (where I can't play KSP), so I wanted to calculate it

[Dangerous_Beans]

an orbit with radius 3,463.33km and velocity 1.90807km/s give you a orbital period of 22,171.65s. so you are a little high (or i am a little wrong ).

sadly i don't have the brain power to do the maths right now, but i'll have a look tomorrow if someone hasn't answered this.

[KerbMav]

The time for one orbit has to be the exact same as the time for one rotation of the planet.

As long as the orbit is remotely circular, your satellite will stay in contact with app. the same surface area and other satellites of your system.

[Geschosskopf]

The time for one orbit has to be the exact same as the time for one rotation of the planet.

As long as the orbit is remotely circular, your satellite will stay in contact with app. the same surface area and other satellites of your system.

This is the key issue. What you want is to nail the orbital period, which is now 5 hours, 59 minutes, and 1 second. You can be a bit eccentric and a bit inclined, but that isn't going to cause any problems as long as you've got the period exactly right. At worst, your satellite will wobble slightly around a fixed point in the sky like Ike does at Duna, but this doesn't hurt anything.

[Geschosskopf]

This is the key issue. What you want is to nail the orbital period, which is now 5 hours, 59 minutes, and 1 second. You can be a bit eccentric and a bit inclined, but that isn't going to cause any problems as long as you've got the period exactly right. At worst, your satellite will wobble slightly around a fixed point in the sky like Ike does at Duna, but this doesn't hurt anything.

Hmmmm.........

OK, I've been experimenting with this a lot lately and I have to say that DO NOT set your orbital period to 5h 59m 1s. This causes the satellites to drift around ahead of Kerbin. But OTOH, they hold still at 6h 0m 0s.

But the period is still the important orbital variable to nail down when you set up geostationary satellites. A slight amount of eccentricity and/or inclination doesn't matter.