Question

A remote sensing satellite is initially launched into a circular parking orbit (R = 6500 km). A Hohmann Transfer Orbit (HTO) will be used to place this satellite into its final orbit, which is elliptical with a semimajor axis of 7000 km and an eccentricity of 0.05. As this satellite is part of a co-planar constellation, it must be placed at a specific position in the target orbit (i.e. true anomaly). The initial angle between the satellite and its target position is 3.193°. Calculate the amount of time that mission control should wait before initiating the orbit transfer maneuver. Assume the rendezvous point occurs at the apogee of the target orbit. HINT: You will need to calculate the lead angle, α_lead, using Kepler’s Equation.

Answer 1