How low can they go?
The good thing about those altitudes is that unless there is active maintenance, their orbits won’t be long lived.
4 thoughts on “LEO Satellites”
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How low can they go?
The good thing about those altitudes is that unless there is active maintenance, their orbits won’t be long lived.
Comments are closed.
I predict that such satellites will end up being long and thin, like a rod or stretched out air-to-air missile, with a finely tapered conical nose.
They’ll work to maximize the mass per frontal area, equivalent to an orbital-velocity ballistic coefficient. Then add an engine to periodically boost it back up.
Sounds like something along the lines of GOCE…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Field_and_Steady-State_Ocean_Circulation_Explorer
…and future derivatives using air-breathing electric propulsion…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srmtxK44YXk
Years ago there was a guest on The Space Show who described a concept where a satellite is placed in a highly elliptical orbit with the perigee in very low Earth orbit. During the time that it was above VLEO, it would use an ion drive to keep it from deorbiting.
Put wheels on it for the lowest possible altitude.