MODIS is an Earth Observation sensor onboard TERRA spacecraft flying in a near-polar circular orbit with an orbital period of 98.8 minutes. The width of the swath imaged by MODIS is 2330 km. A- How many orbits does TERRA trace in one day? B- Assuming that the Earth rotates around its polar axis at a rate of 0.2618 rd/hr and that the equatorial radius is 6378 km, do two consecutive swaths of MODIS overlap at the equator? (hint: the length of an arc = angle in rd * radius) C- The radius of the latitude circle at 35 deg is 5224.5 km. Do two consecutive swaths of MODIS overlap at latitude 35 deg? 2- An aerostationary orbit for
1- MODIS is an Earth Observation sensor onboard TERRA spacecraft flying in a near-polar circular orbit with an orbital period of 98.8 minutes. The width of the swath imaged by MODIS is 2330 km.
A- How many orbits does TERRA trace in one day?
B- Assuming that the Earth rotates around its polar axis at a rate of 0.2618 rd/hr and that the equatorial radius is 6378 km, do two consecutive swaths of MODIS overlap at the equator? (hint: the length of an arc = angle in rd * radius)
C- The radius of the latitude circle at 35 deg is 5224.5 km. Do two consecutive swaths of MODIS overlap at latitude 35 deg?
2- An aerostationary orbit for Mars is equivalent to a geostationary orbit for Earth. It is designed to enable a satellite in that orbit to image always the same surface of Mars. Calculate the altitude of an aerostationary orbit assuming that Mars is spherical, that its sidereal rotational period is 1.02595676 Earth days, its equatorial radius is 3389.50 km and its mass is 6.4171×1023 (Note that the gravitational constant G = 6.67430 x 10-11 m3⋅kg–1⋅s–2).
An orbit is considered stable if it falls inside the planet’s Hill Sphere (Hill sphere of a planet is the region in which it dominates the attraction of satellites, a satellite has to be inside that sphere to remain around the planet). Knowing that the radius of Mar’s Hill sphere is
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