[help] Satellite orbit question

[jaylake]

I swear this went through Link Salad in the last year or two, but I cannot run it down

Comments

[criada]

Put it in one of the LaGrange points?

[jackwilliambell]

I assume you mean 'Earth orbit'.

In any case, Lagrange orbits are very stable.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_orbit

L4 and L5 are the most stable and L1 the least (as best I remember).

Some things to point out: (1) Close passing asteroids can mess with even stable orbits (if close enough) (2) Within a Lagrange point there might be multiple masses, each of which is doing a complicated little circular dance; so if you have more than one satellite you might have collisions over that long a period (3) Over a millennia dust abrasion and micrometeors are going to be major issues (4) All Lagrange points are outside the Earth's magnetosphere (aka, the 'Van Allen Belt'), meaning they get the full brunt of solar storms and other extant radiation.

[saycestsay]

You mentioned it during FOOTPRINTS slushing :)

[jaylake]

Brain, brain, what is brain...

[saycestsay]

zombie food?

[jtdiii]

I was beaten to the Lagrange points.

But there is another very stable orbital position... Sitting on the Moon's surface.

Re: I thought I heard someone say "rocket science."

[jaylake]

Sorry, I was unclear. I am thinking of a fictional planet with no major moons, otherwise Earthlike in mass, orbit, etc.

(And I swear I saw an article about an artificial satellite in a million-year+ orbit...)

Re: I thought I heard someone say "rocket science."

[jaylake]

Thanks! And yes, this can be a dysfunctional orbit -- the artefact is abandoned, but still orbiting. So I'll just leave it as "high orbit".