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Geostationary satellite (1 Viewer)

eleco

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Why cant a geostationary satellite be placed above Newcastle?

is it simply not alligned to the equatorial plane?
 
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Shael

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eleco said:
Why cant a geostationary satellite be placed above Newcastle?

is it simply not alligned to the equatorial plane?
Yeah, I think that would be it since the equatorial plane wouldnt be going through Newcastle, heh. But you could place it above New Guinea :)
 

rama_v

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eleco said:
Why cant a geostationary satellite be placed above Newcastle?

is it simply not alligned to the equatorial plane?
I dunno, maybe its the fact that a satellite above newcastle will not have the same period as the Earth's rotation since teh Earth rotates faster at the equator...hence it wouldnt be geostationary?
 

Mat_Aussie

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The idea of a satellite is to relay information to other parts of the globe.

if the satellite is placed above newcastle, the satellite wont have coverage to the majority of the earth, whereas if it is placed above the equator, it has coverage of almost half the earths surface.

the earth also sticks out a bit at the equator, which allows it more coverage.
 

Toby Buchanan

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I don't think that is the correct thinking.. because no matter where over Earth you are, you can always see (almost) the same amount of the Earth's surface.. I recon it's because any orbit must move around the entire earth (rather than a portion that is smaller than its circumference), due to gravity, orbital decay etc.. and an orbital rotation over newcastle would mean that it would be travelling across a plane other than that of the Earth's rotation, therefore no longer making it geostationary.... not sure if my reasoning makes complete sense.. but yeah, that question was in our trial as well
 

thunderdax

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You can't do it because a satelite not near to the equator will follow a figure 8 pattern if in a 24 hour period for some reason i can't remember.
 

BlackJack

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Point: Any geostationay satellite covers slightly less than half. (So you only need three to cover the earth.)
Synthesis of answer:
- So you hire a shuttle place one over Newcastle with orbit period of 24 hours.
- However, it has to orbit the earth. To do that, it must orbit the centre of Earth's mass, i.e. centre of Earth.
- From the satellite (little diagram,) chop open the earth straight through the middle. We see that the orbit will lie on this plane.
- The satellite moves along, and must pass to the Taiwanese (;p) side of the equator as it orbits. Hence it cannot stay over Newcastle.
(In fact it inscribes a figure 8 because most satellites are on elliptic orbits, and move faster whenever they are closer and vice versa. Compared to the earth's speed of rotation, this makes the satellite drift forward a bit when they are close, and lag behind when they are far. To 'prove' this fast/slow business, use conservation of energy: GPE and KE.)
 

sikeveo

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The great BlackJack emerges once again. However i'm not sure you answered the question.
 

BlackJack

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Of course not. :D
But read it anyway. It'll help.

edit: I'd rather not answer directly. There are geosynchronous and geostationary satellites. It's really a one liner.
 
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sikeveo

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Gives a good background, and implores you to investigate the question yourself. You get to the last line and think, where was the answer? Good to know you don't spoonfeed.

Oh btw, thanks :)
 

FinalFantasy

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Toby Buchanan said:
I don't think that is the correct thinking.. because no matter where over Earth you are, you can always see (almost) the same amount of the Earth's surface.. I recon it's because any orbit must move around the entire earth (rather than a portion that is smaller than its circumference), due to gravity, orbital decay etc.. and an orbital rotation over newcastle would mean that it would be travelling across a plane other than that of the Earth's rotation, therefore no longer making it geostationary.... not sure if my reasoning makes complete sense.. but yeah, that question was in our trial as well
hey Toby, are you related to the Buchanan at the Extension 2 Mathematics forum?
 

Toby Buchanan

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yeah i think i said something on that one too... is that leung?? haha i wondered how long it would be b4 someone noticed my full name... oh well
 

FinalFantasy

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Toby Buchanan said:
yeah i think i said something on that one too... is that leung?? haha i wondered how long it would be b4 someone noticed my full name... oh well
ooer
so ur Buchanan's son or something?
I am not "leung" if you were referring to me...
 

Toby Buchanan

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buchanan's son?? obviously my dad is a buchanan but i don't know how you would know him... he's not a school teacher or anything
 

FinalFantasy

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Tobes said:
buchanan's son?? obviously my dad is a buchanan but i don't know how you would know him... he's not a school teacher or anything
wait... u r confusing me!!
so r u the son of that Buchanan on the extension 2 maths forum?

and also, before it says u have 4 posts
but ur latter post, it says
"Tobes
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 1"

howcome before it was 4 post and now it is 1 post?
u didn't seem to have deleted any @_@
 

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