Commercial Communications Satellites

[toolzkit]

Hi all,

Come across a map of commercial communications satellites in orbit, could make a good sized poster, and I thought it was interesting.

It's a pdf file 69.0KB in size.

[martin-f]

interesting thanks for posting

[eurofan]

Nice one Toolzkit
Prints up well in borderless A4 full colour (using my brand new HP wireless printer !)

Any of you techies care to comment on the notes on the map which say things like "drifting" and "inclined orbit"
Also shows Sirius 1,2 and3 and mentions "63 deg.inclination between 140W and 60W"
Date is 30 September 2009 so is surely uptodate.
cheers

[Analoguesat]

Drifting - its moving from one orbital slot to another (or has been junked and is now in graveyard orbit)

Inclined - an elderly satellite which is low on fuel so the north/south station keeping isnt carried out. The satellite starts to move in an elongated figure 8 orbit with the middle of the 8 on the main orbital plane. Once the orbit starts to get above about 1.5 degrees off the main orbital plane specialised equipment is required to track the up/down motion. Inclined orbit sats are used for short feeds and are unsuitable for normal direct to home broadcasting.

Sirius 1 2 & 3 These are the American radio birds, not the old European tv birds that operated at 5E. They have inclined orbits so they can cover the continental USA.