Period Of Gps Satellite Orbit

As of february 2019 there are 31 satellites in the gps constellation 27 of which are in use at a given time with the rest allocated as stand bys.

Period of gps satellite orbit. The orbit is home to a number of artificial satellites the most common uses include navigation communication and geodetic space environment science. Because of their low altitude these satellites are only visible from within a small area about 1000 km radius beneath the satellite as it passes. In 24 hours the satellite crosses over the same two spots on the equator every day. A 32nd was launched in 2018.

The launch was scheduled for a 15 minute window that opened at 6. Enlarge expandable 24 slot satellite constellation as defined in the sps performance standard. If you know the satellite s speed and the radius at which it orbits you can figure out its period. Spacex aborted a scheduled launch of a us military gps satellite on friday night with just about two seconds left in the countdown.

It is the orbit used by the global positioning system gps satellites. Samples of three gps satellites orbits over a five year period 2013 to 2018 usa 242 usa 239 usa 151 earth as of august 2020 update 75 global positioning system navigation satellites have been launched 31 of which are operational 9 in reserve 3 being tested 30 have been retired and 2 were lost at launch. More decommissioned satellites are in orbit and available as spares. Gps satellites fly in medium earth orbit meo at an altitude of approximately 20 200 km 12 550 miles.

This means the track of the satellite as seen from the central body will repeat exactly after a fixed number of orbits. A satellite at this height takes 12 hours to complete an orbit. Leo is typically a circular orbit about 400 to 900 kilometres above the earth s surface and correspondingly has a much shorter period time to revolve around the earth of about 90 minutes. An orbit whose period is a rational multiple of the average rotational period of the body being orbited and in the same direction of rotation as that body.

Each satellite circles the earth twice a day. The period of the earth as it travels around the sun is one year. The gps wikipedia page mentions that with this orbit the satellites have an orbital period of about 12 hours and thus follow the same track over the earth this was useful for debugging when the system was first being set up. The satellites in the gps constellation are arranged into six equally spaced orbital planes.

But surely a similar effect could have been achieved with an 8 or 6 hour orbital period or some other divisor of 24. The period of a satellite is the time it takes it to make one full orbit around an object. In practice only 1 1 ratio geosynchronous and 1 2 ratios semi synchronous are common. You can calculate the speed of a satellite around an object using the equation.

As of july 2019 this last is still in evaluation.