Unit 2

Orbits and launching methods

Introduction to Keplers laws

Johannes
Kepler
Keplers laws describe the motion of planets
around the Sun.

KEPLERs LAWS
Satellites orbiting the earth follow the
same laws that govern the motion of
planets around the Sun !
Keplers laws are applicable to any two
bodies in space which have some
interaction through gravitation. He
proposed 3 laws.

Keplers laws contd

According to the theory he proposed
The body with heavier mass is referred
to as the primary and the other as
secondary
Usually the satellite will be the secondary.
Keplers First law:
Statement : The path followed by a
Satellite around the primary will be
an ellipse

Figure to depict Keplers First law

Keplers laws contd

Eccentricity e and semi major axis

a are two of the orbital elements
specified for Satellites orbiting the
earth
When e=0 ,the orbit becomes circular

Keplers laws contd

Keplers second law:
For equal time intervals the satellite
sweeps out equal areas in the orbital plane
focused at the barycenter

Importance of second law

The area covered by the line thus
amounts to a fraction of the total
area of the ellipse shape, and
therefore a fraction of the total time
for one complete orbit.
In this way, a real connection may be
perceived between the passage of
time and the distance travelled by a
planet as it moves through space

Keplers laws contd

Keplers third law( basis for Newton's

law of gravitation)
It states that square of the periodic
time P of the orbit is proportional
to the cube of the mean
distance(a) between the two
bodies.
Here mean distance is the semi major
axis a
= earths geocentric
Another form of this law
is where
gravitational
constant

Geocentric an
illustration

Keplers laws contd

P= orbital period or periodic time of orbit

Here n is the mean motion of the
satellite in radians per second
Conditions for the third law
Satellite is orbiting a perfect spherical
earth of uniform mass
No disturbing forces eg. atmospheric
drag
****

Newton's comparison of the

acceleration of the moon to the
acceleration of objects on earth
allowed him to establish that the
moon is held in a circular orbit by
the force of gravity
- a force that is inversely
dependent upon the distance
between the two objects' centers

Some terms for earth orbiting Sats

Sub satellite path- path traced on
earths surface directly below
Satellite
Apogee point farthest from the
earth
Perigee- point of closest approach
from the earth

Figure showing important terms w.r.t.

Satellite

Figure showing important terms w.r.t. Satellite Contd ..

Figure showing important terms w.r.t.

Satellite Contd..

Line of Apsides Line joining the

apogee and perigee through the
center of the earth

Ascending node the point where the

orbit crosses equatorial plane going from
south to north
Descending node the point where the
orbit crosses equatorial plane going from
north to south
Line of nodes line joining the ascending
and descending nodes

Inclination:The angle between the orbital

plane and earths equatorial plane. It is
represented by I .It is measured at the
ascending node from the equator to the orbit,
going from east to north

 Prograde orbit Sat moves in

same direction as the
earth(inclination lies b/w 0 deg
and 90 deg)
Retrograde orbit Sat moves in
counter direction as the earth.
(inclination lies between 90 deg
and 180 deg

 Argument of perigee- the angle from

the ascending node to the perigee
,measured in the orbital plane at the
earths center.
It is denoted by

 Mean Anamoly M It gives the

average value of the angular position
of the satellite with reference to the
perigee.
If the orbit is circular M gives the
angular position of the Satellite in the
orbit.
True Anamoly The angle from
perigee to the satellite measured at
the earths center.
It gives the true angular position of the

 themean anomalyis anangleused in

calculating the position of a body in an
elliptical orbit
It is the angular distance from thepericenter
which a fictitious body would have if it
moved in acircular orbit, with constantspeed
, in the sameorbital periodas the actual
body in its elliptical orbit
Incelestial mechanics,true anomalyis an
angularparameterthat defines the position
of a body moving along aKeplerian orbit. It is
the angle between the direction ofperiapsis
and the current position of the body,

Area swept out per unit time by an object in an

elliptical orbit(grey) and by an imaginary object in
acircular orbit(red) which completes its orbit in
the same period of time. Both sweep out equal
areas in equal times, but the angular rate of sweep
varies for the elliptical orbit and is constant for the
circular orbit. Shown aremean anomalyand
true anomalyfor two units of time.

Ascending node is usually used for :

Determination of orbit
It requires the longitude and time of
crossing of the ascending node.
However it cannot be used as
reference easily since the longitude
of the ascending node is not fixed
and changes when earth spins.
Hence a fixed reference in space is
required
This reference is the first point of

 Right ascension of the ascending node

It is denoted by the symbol
It is defined as the angle measured eastward in
the equatorial plane ,from the first point of
Aries line to the ascending node.
Here the first point of Aries is a reference
point also called the vernal or spring
equinox.
vernal or spring equinox- It occurs when
the sun crosses the equator going from
south to north.
An imaginary line drawn from this
equatorial crossing through the center
of the Sun points to the first point of Aries

ORBITAL ELEMENTS

Six orbital elements define the earth orbiting satellites

They are called as Keplerian element set
The basic orbital elements are...
Semi major axis ]------ give the shape of the ellipse
Eccentricity
]------
--------Epoch --- reference time
Orbital Inclination- orbital planes position to the earth
Right ascension of the ascending node-
-----

Argument of Perigee-rotation of orbits perigee point

relative to the orbits line of nodes in the earths
equatorial plane
Mean Anomaly position of Satellite in its orbit

Apogee and Perigee Heights

ra=a(1+e)
rp=a(1-e)
Calculate apogee and perigee
heights for the following orbital
parameters for earth radius of
6371km.
e=.0011501, a=7192.335km
ha= ra-R
hp= rp-R

Orbit Perturbations

Keplerian orbit ideal

It assumes that earth is uniform
spherical mass
Only force acting is the centrifugal
force resulting from satellite motion
balancing the gravitational pull of the
earth.
Other forces
Gravitational pulls of the sun
and the moon
Atmospheric drag

EFFECTS OF NONSPHERICAL EARTH

Keplers 3rd law clearly stated that

it is applicable for spherical
earth of uniform mass.!!!
But
Earth is not perfectly spherical ,it
has equatorial bulge and
flattening at the poles!!!
The shape is called oblate spheroid

EFFECTS OF NONSPHERICAL EARTH

CONTD

Effects of Oblateness
produces two rotations of the orbital
Plane
First of these is known as
regression of the nodes
o Here nodes appear to slide along the
equator
o Line of nodes also rotates
o Right ascension of the ascending
node shifts

OTHER EFFECTS

Effects of Sun and moon

The gravity effects causes Orbital
inclination of a geosynchronous orbit
changes with time
Atmospheric Drag
Significant for the near-earth Sats
,below about 1000 km
Drag is greatest at the perigee .
Drag reduces the velocity at this
point , with the result that it does not
reach the same apogee height

INCLINED ORBITS
A satellite is said to occupy an inclined orbit around
the Earth if the orbit exhibits an angle other than
zero degrees with the equatorial plane. This angle
is called the orbit's inclination
It complicates because the orbital elements are
known with reference to plane of the orbit ,whose
position is fixed in space
While
Earth station is usually given in terms of local
geographic co-ordinates which rotate with the
earth.
Satellite position and velocity - rectangular
co-ordinate systems
Earth stations azimuth and elevation angles
and range

Inclined orbits Contd..

Inclined orbits Contd..

Transformations between the coordinate systems is
necessary
Important with inclined orbits the satellites
are not geostationary
Therefore the look angles and range change
with time
Determination of look angles and range involves the
following:
Orbital elements as published in NASA bulletins
Various measures of time
Perifocal co-ordinate system based on orbital plane
Geocentric coordinate system-based on earths
equatorial plane
Topocentric horizon coordinate system-based on the
observers horizon plane

Calendars
Calendar- it is a time keeping device in which a
year is divided into months, weeks, and days
They are based on the earths motion relative
to Sun.
This motion is not uniform and hence called the
mean Sun
The mean Sun also takes the same time as the
real Sun to complete one orbit of the earth
This is called a Tropical year
Day measured relative to this mean sun is
termed mean solar day.
Calendar days are the mean solar days or
days.

Calendars (Contd.)
A tropical year has 365.2422 days
A Leap year-extra day in month of
Feb
A leap year is also exactly divisible by
4
Julian Calendar- the civil year has
365.25 days on average
Gregorian Calendar This calendar has
3 days missing every 400 years

UTC(Universal time Co-ordinated)

It is the time reference broadcasted
by the National Bureau of Standards
Used for all civil time keeping
purposes
The fundamental unit in UTC is the
mean solar day
A mean solar day has 86400 clock
seconds
UTC is equivalent to GMT and also
Zulu Time.

Sidereal time

A star found at one location in the sky will be

found at nearly the same location on another
night at the same sidereal time.
similar to how the time kept by a sundial A sundial
is a device that tells the time of day by the
position of the Sun.
Sidereal time - This is the time measured relative
to fixed stars.
Note : one complete rotation of the earth relative
to fixed star is not
a complete rotation relative to the Sun
Because earth also is moving in its orbit around
the sun
Hence one sidereal day is shorter than a solar day

Sidereal day

Definitions sidereal day

1 sidereal day =24 sidereal hours

1 sidereal hour = 60 sidereal minutes
1 sidereal minute = 60 sidereal
seconds
1 mean solar day = 1.0027379093
mean sidereal days
24 h 56.55536s sidereal time
1 mean sidereal day =0.9972695664
mean solar days
23h 56m 4.09054s mean solar time

Local mean Solar time and Sun

Synchronous orbits
By definition local mean solar time is a time
that corrects the variations of local apparent
time forming a uniform scale at a specific
longitude
Sun sync Orbit- in this orbit the satellite passes
over the same part of Earth at roughly the
same local time each day.
Note: this helps the communication and various
forms of data collection very convenient
Radar Sat is an example of a satellite in a low
sun synchronous orbit

Features of Sun Sync Orbits

The altitudes of such orbits are about
600-800 km
Periods of orbit are 96-100 minute
range
Inclinations of around 98deg

The Geostationary orbit

Definition : The Sat appears stationary w.r.t.

earth
Features of the geostationary orbit :
1 Sat travels eastward at the same rotational
speed as the earth -this is obvious
2 Orbit is circularKeplers second law-constant speed means
equal areas must be swept
3 Inclination of orbit is zero
if inclination is non zero then sat moves
north and south ,this is avoided if the
inclination is zero.

The Geostationary orbit contd..

Geostationary radius = 42164 km

Geostationary height = 35786km

Antenna look angles

By definition they are the angles(coordinates )

to which an earth station antenna should
point to ,inorder to communicate with
Satellite.
These angles are the Azimuth (A) and elevation
angle (E).These are calculated with the
knowledge of latitude ()and relative
longitude ()both in degrees of the earth
station.
= absolute value difference b/w geostationary
sat longitude and that of earth station

Figure showing the look angles

Elevation angle calculation Contd

The elevation angle(El) is measured
upward from the local horizontal at
the earth station
to the satellite path.
The Azimuth angle is the angle
measured Eastward from the
geographic North to the projection of
satellite on a locally horizontal plane
at the earth station. It is represented
as Az

Other rules for Azimuthal angles

Latitudes north positive angles
Latitudes south negative angles
Longitudes east of greenwich of meridian
positive angles
Longitudes west of greenwich of meridian negative

Limits of visibility
There will be east and west limits on
the geostationary arc visible from
any given earth station.
The limits will be set by the
geographic co-ordinates of the
earth station and antenna
elevation
The limiting angle is given by :

illustration of visibility

Polar Mount antenna

To Steer an antenna separate
actuators exist
One for azimuth and another for
elevation
Features of a Polar mount antenna:
A single actuator moves the antenna
in a circular arc
Antenna pointing may be accurate
for one satellite,some pointing errors
has to be accepted for other
satellites

Polar Mount antenna Contd

The angle between polar mount and
the local horizontal plane is set equal
to earth station Latitude (Le)
the boresight lies parallel to the
equatorial plane
Tilt angle: the angle by which the
dish is tilted relative to polar mount
until the boresight is pointing at a
satellite position due south of earth
station. ( )

Polar mount antenna

Earths eclipse of Satellite Contd..

When does it occur?
It occurs when the earths equatorial plane
coincides with the plane of the earths orbit
around the sun(ecliptic orbit)
Geostationary Sats would be eclipsed by the
earth once each day
Angle between earths equatorial plane and
ecliptic orbit is 23.4 deg hence full view of

Sun for most days of the year

Around spring and autumn equinoxes when
Sun crosses the equator eclipse occurs (Sat is
shadowed
by the earth)

Details about the eclipse

Eclipse begins 23 days before Equinox and end
23 days after Equinox.
It lasts for a duration of about 10 min at the
beginning and end of eclipse period.
At full eclipse it increases to 72 min
Sats do not have their solar cells functioning
during this time ,batteries are required.
When Sat longitude is east of E.S.-Sat enters
eclipse during day light of E.S.and lot of power
is spent on batteries
When Sat longitude is west of E.S. eclipse
occurs in E.S. darkness when usage is likely low
Therefore Sat longitudes in west are preferred.

Sun transit outage

During Equinoxes there is transit of
Sat between the earth and the Sun
The Sun comes in the beamwidth of
the earth station antenna and when
this happens Sun appears as a noisy
source which completely blanks out
the signal from the Satellite
This effect is called Suns transit
outage
It lasts for short periods ,each day
,totally about 6 days around the

Figure showing Suns transit outage

Different eclipse times for E.S.

A Sat east of E.S. enters eclipse

during day light or early evening
busy hours for E.S.
A Sat west of E.S. enters eclipse

Launching Orbits

 An expendable launch system by

definition is a launch system that
uses an expendable launch
vehicle (ELV) to carry a payload into
space. The vehicles used in
expendable launch systems are
designed to be used only once (i.e.
they are "expended" during a single
flight), and their components are not
recovered for re-use after launch.
The vehicle typically consists of
several rocket stages, discarded one

Launching orbits contd..

To launch a spacecraft into a synchronous
orbit
It must be accelerated to a velocity of
3070m/s in a zero inclination orbit and
raised to a distance of 42,242 km from
the center of the earth
Launching may be done using ELV
(expendable launch vehicle) or STS
(space transportation system )space
shuttle(reusable) .
Satellites can be directly launched to low
altitude orbits upto 200km

Launching orbits contd

For orbit altitudes greater than 200km ,it is
a2-3 step process
Most ELV vehicles put the Sat in an
inclined elliptical orbit called the transfer
orbit with an apogee at geosync altitude
and 185 to 370 km.
At the transfer orbit apogee a rocket
engine called the apogee kick motor
(AKM)puts the satellite into a circular
geosync orbit with (ideally ) zero
inclination.
AKM must be capable of increasing the
satellite velocity from 1585 m/s in the

Launching orbits contd

The space shuttle flies a nominal 296 km circular
orbit
Geosync Sats launched by STS are moved from this
orbit to a transfer orbit by an additional stage
frequently called a PAM(payload assist module)or
perigee motor
An AKM injects the sats from transfer orbit into
geosync orbit in the same way as with ELV
30 minutes gap exists between ELV lift off and
placement of Sat into transfer orbit
After transfer orbit insertion ,control passes from
launching agency to satellite owner ,who determines
when to inject the spacecraft into geosync orbit.
***********