Re: Level of Detail?

[damocles@nostromo.gate.net (Randy Vice)]

On Mon 14-Apr-1997  9:50a, bgarmer@tsc.net wrote:

<snip>

BG> I have several problems with using satellites that are parked in orbit.
BG> The first is that, without ground control (or in the case of the
BG> satellites
BG> I work with - with GPS which in turn requires ground control) satellites
BG> will tend to move towards the gravity anomoly zones (the biggest being
BG> over
BG> the South Altantic).  

So would say a team in PR be able to paint a "hybernation" sat in this gravity
anomoly zones?

This means all those nice geo-sync and geo-sta sats
BG> will be out of view of most of the CONUS in short order after the war.
BG> Second, these satellites don't carry a lot of fuel for moving orbits -
BG> not
BG> enough for 150 years.  


Let's play with the MP tech for a bit. Say the sat went into deep sleep mode
and wandered where ever the mag anom zones are.  Let's also say it had a long
duration fusion plant as well.  With the "crapload" of extra power (vs. say
photoelectric cells), wouldn't ion (or plasma) onboard engines be enough to
transfer it to the parking slot and maintain this for a long time?  Now, if we
have crapload of power, how about a magnetic funnel to guide spaceborne
hydrogen into a storage system for extra sat propellant?

I solve some of this by assuming the Prime Base or
BG> the alternate C&C will attempt to take control of several sats after the
BG> war.  This isn't a perfect solution but workable for the short haul -
BG> that
BG> is why the project had a lauch facility somewhere.  One problem would be
BG> that while you are keep your satellites in position, all the other
BG> satellites are moving out of there orbits and could collide with you.  A
BG> second is random failures - you would have to have several under control.

Then you are going to hope for Big Sky Theory _or_ have it autonimusly (sp)
enough to "move" itself out of harms way via RADAR/Laser tracking. 

BG> Over 150 years, these satellites would break down and die (run out of
BG> fuel,
BG> component failures, collisions, etc).  BTW - my lauch facility is for LEO
BG> sats - easier to launch and control plus is adds a worldwide
BG> communication capability.

THen unless you have a fair amount of LEO sats for continuous coverage and the
complexity of constant moving down/uplink antennas.  I still say the cheapo
way of doing this is to do a moon bounce.  Yes, it's limited coverage time,
but it's a cheap and skeezy way of cover CONUS. 

: damocles@nostromo.gate.net :   Bruce Morrow,a man before and after his time:
:"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the     :
:United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."      :
: - Samuel Adams :  Morrow Project Planning: Looking forward to the end!     :