E5 to Move to 148w
- Thread starter mdonnelly
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Kinda makes you wonder what their plans are for E1, and how long that puppy can keep plugging away.
Longer than E5 !
Check earlier threads and you will find that the point of this is to hold all 32 frequencies at 148 from being allocated to someone else as a result of EchoStar 2 dying (EchoStar 1 only does odd numbered transponders).
That thing is almost out of fuel. I wouldn't be surprised if it even gets stranded half way there.
Doesn't require much fuel to move. They just have to push it out of orbit by either pushing it closer to Earth or farther out, depending which way it needs to go. Once its out of the belt it won't keep the same pace with the Earth and will drift away from its current slot.
Envision two runners on the same circle track in the same lane. One moves to the inside lane, and he will move further ahead of the other runners while maintaining the same speed. If he moves to the outer lanes, he will lose ground even though he's moving just as fast.
I doubt E5 ever makes it to 148W. I bet this is just to keep the FCC happy that they are trying to retain their transponders at 148W. Compounding problems, 148W is an orbital location that requires more station keeping manuevers than most, due to the earth not being a perfect sphere. If E5 was left to drift on its own, it would gradually move to 105W. They can move it to 148, but it takes more energy going west, even if they just want a slow movement.
See the attached chart. The points at the bottom are stable, ie no east-west station keeping is needed. Everywhere else, a slight adjustment is needed to keep the satellite from drifting. 148W is at the top of the third hump. The numbers on the bottom axis are degrees East, so to convert to degrees west, do 360-x. Ex. 360-148 = 212E.
See the attached chart. The points at the bottom are stable, ie no east-west station keeping is needed. Everywhere else, a slight adjustment is needed to keep the satellite from drifting. 148W is at the top of the third hump. The numbers on the bottom axis are degrees East, so to convert to degrees west, do 360-x. Ex. 360-148 = 212E.
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E5 should do well there since it did such a great job at 129
I hope that it never makes it there.
Just have a question, let's that Ciel 2 has the same fate as AMC 14 and doesn't make it? Wouldn't it of been a smart idea to leave E8 at 110 until Ciel 2 was in place? Just pondering these questions.
I don't think so, as E2's orbit is also decaying. That should make it move very slowly to the East, even after getting to 105.
