Wednesday, November 9, 2016

What is effect of Non spherical shape of earth on GEO satellite? What do you mean by station keeping ?

As the shape of Earth is not a perfect sphere, it causes some variations in the path followed by the satellites around the primary. As the Earth is bulging from the equatorial belt, and keeping in mind that an orbit is not a physical entity, and it is the forces resulting from an oblate Earth which act on
the satellite produce a change in the orbital parameters.

Due to the non-spherical shape of Earth, one more effect called as the “Satellite Graveyard” is seen. The non-spherical shape leads to the small value of eccentricity (10-5 ) at the equatorial plane. This causes a gravity gradient on GEO satellite and makes them drift to one of the two stable points which
coincide with minor axis of the equatorial ellipse.

In addition to having its attitude controlled, it is important that a geostationary satellite be kept in its correct orbital slot. The equatorial ellipticity of the earth causes geostationary satellites to drift slowly along the orbit, to one of two stable points, at 75°E and 105°W.

To counter this drift, an oppositely directed velocity component is imparted to the satellite by means of jets, which are pulsed once every 2 or 3 weeks. These maneuvers are termed east-west station-keeping maneuvers.

2 comments: