... looks more like a traditional Hoffman transfer.
Can someone explain the rational to me the non standard path TDRS-L just took to GTO?Looks like they did a single US burn to a 185 x 24,919 km x 26.5 parking orbit, then raised the perigee with a second US burn to 5357 x 36522 km x 25.5 deg.
Since it does not appear the second burn was at the apogee, this would not be a bi-elliptic, looks more like a traditional Hoffman transfer.
I have a question on electric propulsion and inclined GTO. Since you need a plane change from inclined GTO to GEO and to do this you need to burn at the nodes (and in opposite directions at ascending and descending nodes), how do you do it with electrical propulsion since your thrust is so low?
"The number 18.1 of the ITU Radio Regulations states that: “No transmitting station may be established or operated by a private person or by any enterprise without a license issued in anappropriate form and in conformity with the provisions of these Regulations by theGovernment of the country to which the station in question is subject.”
There was a very old discussion on here regarding some really cool low-dV trajectories heading for the Earth Moon LaGrange points. I can't find the thread, but one question that I never saw raised on there, was whether there are any free return trajectories that are compatible with heading for EML1 or EML2?To be precise, I am wondering if a crew heading for a station based at either location, experienced a complete failure to fire the final braking maneuver -- could they have a trajectory that will still get them home again? And, for now, I am choosing to ignore any situations where that braking burn is only partially successful, because I expect that would cause some real problems! -MG.
I realize this might be a long shot question, but does anyone know if sun synchronous orbits exist at Venus? I was wondering if it is possible to place and keep a satellite in orbit along the terminator.