On Mon, Apr 22, 2002 at 04:50:35PM -0700, Chad Cooper wrote: > Does this change when you are stationary in orbit vs orbiting?
There is only one (geo)stationary orbit for a given rotating body. For the earth, geostationary orbit occurs at a distance of 42,300km from the center of the earth (6.64 earth radii), which is 35,930km above the surface of the earth. In geostationary orbit, you are travelling in a circular orbit at 3.075km/sec. This is a relatively high and slow orbit -- most other earth orbits will be lower and faster. If you are in geostationary orbit and you thrust, you will end up in a different orbit, no longer circular or geostationary. If you are in geostationary orbit and want to go to a lower circular orbit, you fire your front thrusters, and begin to drop into an elliptical orbit. When you reach the lowest point of the ellipse, you can fire your thrusters again to circularize your orbit. -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.com/
