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www.southgatearc.org
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Page last updated on:
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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Strathclyde - Offset Geostationary OrbitsResearchers from the University of Strathclyde's Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory have shown that a 25 year-old theory on offset geostationary orbits, North or South of the equator, was correct. In a new paper recently published in the Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, researchers from the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory at the Department of Mechanical Engineering have shown that late space pioneer, Dr Robert L. Forward, was in fact right 25 years ago on a theory which had previously been criticised. In his 1984 paper, Dr Forward proposed that the pressure of sunlight on a large solar sail could be used to push the orbit of a geostationary satellite above or below the usual geostationary ring around the Earth. These new, displaced orbits would allow more communication satellites to be stacked north or south of the Earth’s equator, allowing additional satellites to be deployed to meet the growing demand for communications. However, Forward’s idea was later criticised in a 1992 paper which claimed that these displaced orbits were, in fact, impossible. Graduate student Shahid Baig, working with laboratory director Colin McInnes discovered families of closed orbits which circle the Earth every 24 hours, but are displaced north or south of the Earth’s equator. These so-called ‘non-Keplerian orbits’ do not obey the usual laws of orbital dynamics. The pressure from sunlight reflecting off the solar sail pushes the satellite above or below geostationary orbit, and also displaces the centre of the orbit behind the Earth, away from the Sun. Although the displacement distance is smaller than Forward envisaged, the new paper sets the record straight after 25 years. University of Strathclyde story Wiki - Dr Robert L. Forward
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