How much freedom is there in QZSS / Tundra orbit placement?

[Phronesis]

Hi all – A saw this plot of Japan's Quad-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), a set of four satellites that augment the GPS constellation:



Three of the sats are in a sort of figure-8, Tundra-type orbit. I don't know anything about these. Question: How much freedom does a system designer have in placing those orbits?

For example, given the existing orbits as shown in the plot, would you be able to have the same exact plot but moved north or south by 100 or 1,000 miles? I mean from a ground perspective, whatever the correspondence to ground perspective is expressed in the plot.

Thanks.

[Jorge]

Hi all – A saw this plot of Japan's Quad-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), a set of four satellites that augment the GPS constellation:



Three of the sats are in a sort of figure-8, Tundra-type orbit. I don't know anything about these. Question: How much freedom does a system designer have in placing those orbits?

For example, given the existing orbits as shown in the plot, would you be able to have the same exact plot but moved north or south by 100 or 1,000 miles? I mean from a ground perspective, whatever the correspondence to ground perspective is expressed in the plot.

Thanks.

No. All orbit planes pass through the center of the Earth; as a consequence, the maximum north latitude must always be the same as the maximum south latitude. It's not possible to shift the entire groundtrack north or south, only to increase the inclination which will expand the orbit to both north and south by the same amount.