According to JSR 674..."By Feb 10, TDRS K was in a 35422 x 35787km x 7.1 deg orbit over 150 deg West, drifting east at 2 deg/day..."Isn't it odd to be at GEO distance yet still have 7 degrees of inclination? I thought the final burn to GEO usually zeroed out the inclination.Is there still one more burn left?
Quote from: Targeteer on 02/11/2013 09:38 amAccording to JSR 674..."By Feb 10, TDRS K was in a 35422 x 35787km x 7.1 deg orbit over 150 deg West, drifting east at 2 deg/day..."Isn't it odd to be at GEO distance yet still have 7 degrees of inclination? I thought the final burn to GEO usually zeroed out the inclination.Is there still one more burn left?Probably not. Data relay satellites like TDRS does not require such a stringent requirement of north-south keeping, as the signal beams receivers are very large antennas (unlike those small satellite dishes that communication satellites users have), so it is better to conserve fuel and let the oblate Earth do the job of lowering the inclination over the next few years.
Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 02/12/2013 02:26 pmQuote from: Targeteer on 02/11/2013 09:38 amAccording to JSR 674..."By Feb 10, TDRS K was in a 35422 x 35787km x 7.1 deg orbit over 150 deg West, drifting east at 2 deg/day..."Isn't it odd to be at GEO distance yet still have 7 degrees of inclination? I thought the final burn to GEO usually zeroed out the inclination.Is there still one more burn left?Probably not. Data relay satellites like TDRS does not require such a stringent requirement of north-south keeping, as the signal beams receivers are very large antennas (unlike those small satellite dishes that communication satellites users have), so it is better to conserve fuel and let the oblate Earth do the job of lowering the inclination over the next few years.Doesn't inclination usually INCREASE with time on orbit? It usually becomes an issue as satellites run low on fuel to maintain a low inclination--or so I thought...