Module-1 Shilpa A P

Asst. Professor
Dept. of ECE

A satellite is any natural or artificial body moving around a celestial body such as planets and stars.
Natural satellite is any celestial body in space that orbits around a larger body. Moon is natural
satellite because they orbit planets. Satellites that any made by people and launches into orbit
using rockets are called artificial satellites. Thousands of artificial satellites orbiting the Earth.

Applications of satellites:
A satellite while in the orbit performs the designated role throughout its lifetime. Satellite is used
for verity of applications.

• Communication
• Weather forecasting
• Earth observation
• Navigation and Scientific Missions
• Military Satellite

Communication Satellite: Communication satellites not only aid in long distance telephony,
video, facsimile services, data communication and mobile communication. A communication
satellite is a kind of repeater station that receives signals from ground, processes them and re-
transmits them back to earth.

Weather Forecasting Satellite: This satellite takes picture of clouds and other atmospheric
parameters.

Earth observation Satellite: This satellite informed about ocean condition, volcanic eruptions,
earth quacks, pollutions and health of our agricultural crops and forests.

Navigation satellite: This satellite based global positioning system (GPS) allows you to navigate
safely and securely in unknown territories.

Military Satellite: This satellite keeps a watch on the military activity around the world and help
to an extent in enforcing or policing arms control agreements.

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Note:

The world’s first artificial satellite is the Sputnik-1 was launched in 1957. It orbited earth once
every 96 minutes in an elliptical orbit and it was designed to provide information on density and
temperature of the upper atmosphere.
First satellite that was used for communication purpose in INDIA was ARYABHATTA (19th
April 1957)
The first geostationary communication satellite is SYNCOM3 (1963).

How Satellite Works

If you want to send something like a TV broadcast from one side of Earth to the other, there are
three stages involved. First, there's the uplink, where data is beamed up to the satellite from a
ground station on Earth. Next, the satellite processes the data using a number of onboard
transponders (radio receivers, amplifiers, and transmitters). These boost the incoming signals and
change their frequency, so incoming signals don't get confused with outgoing ones. Different
transponders in the same satellite are used to handle different TV stations carried on different
frequencies. Finally, there's the downlink, where data is sent back down to another ground station
elsewhere on Earth. Although there's usually just a single uplink, there may be millions of
downlinks, for example, if many people are receiving the same satellite TV signal at once. While
a communications satellite might relay a signal between one sender and receiver (fired up into
space and back down again, with one uplink and one downlink), satellite broadcasts typically
involve one or more uplinks (for one or more TV channels) and multiple downlinks (to ground
stations or individual satellite TV subscribers).

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Orbit and Trajectories:
Trajectory: A trajectory is a path traced by a moving body and the traced path is not periodically
repeated.

Example:

➢ The path followed by a launch vehicle is a trajectory called the launch trajectory.
➢ The path followed by a rocket on its way to the right position for a satellite launch.
➢ The path followed by orbiting satellite when they move from an intermediate orbit to their
final destined orbit.

Fig: Example of trajectory- path followed by a rocket on its way during satellite launch

Fig: Example of trajectory- motion of a satellite from the intermediate orbit to the final orbit

Orbit: orbit is a trajectory that is periodically repeated.

Example:

➢ The path followed by the motion of an artificial satellite around Earth is an orbit
➢ The motion of different planets of the solar system around the sun and the motion of
artificial satellite around Earth.

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 Fig: Example of orbital motion- satellite revolving around Earth

Basic Principles:
The motion of natural and artificial satellites around earth is governed by two forces.
Centripetal Force: Centripetal force directed towards the center of the Earth due to gravitational
force of attraction of earth.
Example: A satellite orbiting a planet is an example of the centripetal force.

Centrifugal Force: it is the force that acts outwards from the center of the Earth.
Example: Mud flying of a tire is one example of the centrifugal force.

Fig: Gravitational force and the centrifugal force acting on bodies orbiting Earth

Explanation of how satellite orbit around Earth:

The centrifugal force is the force exerted during circular motion, by the moving object upon the
other object around which it is moving. In case of satellite orbiting earth, the satellite exerts a
centrifugal force. Centripetal force causing the circular motion. In the absence of this centripetal
force, the satellite would have continued to move in a straight line at a constant speed after
injection. Centrifugal force is simply the reaction force exerted by the satellite in a direction
opposite to that of the centripetal force.

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Accordance with Newton’s third law of motion, which states that for every action there is an equal
and opposite reaction. This implies that there is a centrifugal acceleration acting outwards from
the center of the earth due to the centripetal acceleration acting towards the center of the earth.
The only radial force acting on the satellite orbiting earth is the centripetal force. The centrifugal
force is not acting on the satellite is only a reaction force exerted by the satellite.
The two forces can be explained from Newton’s law of gravitation and Newton’s second law of
motion.

1. Newton’s Law of Gravitation:

Newton’s law of gravitation says every particle irrespective of mass attracts every other particle
with a gravitational force (F) whose magnitude is directly proportional to the product of the masses
of two particles and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Mathematically,

Where
m1, m2 are the masses of the two particles
r--- Distance between the two particles
G—gravitational constant (6.67 × 10-11 m3/kg s2)
The force with which particle with mass m1 attracts the particle with mass m2 equals the force
with which particle with mass m2 attracts the particle with mass m1. The forces are equal in
magnitude but opposite in direction.

Fig 2 Newton’s law of gravitation

2. Newton’s Second Law of Motion:

Newton’s Second Law of Motion says, the force equals the product of mass and acceleration.

F= M*a
Where
F=Force
M=Mass
A= Acceleration

In Case Of Satellite Orbiting Earth, if the orbiting velocity is ‘v’, then the acceleration, called
centripetal acceleration, experienced by the satellite at a distance ‘r’ from the center of the Earth
would be v2/r

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If the mass of satellite is m, it would experience a reaction force of m v2/r. This is the centrifugal
force directed outwards from the center of the Earth and for a satellite is equal in magnitude force.
If the satellite orbited Earth with a uniform velocity ‘v’, which would be the case when the satellite
orbit is a circular one, then equating the two forces mentioned above would lead to an expression
for the orbital velocity ’v’ as follows

In case of an elliptical orbit, the forces governing the motion of the satellite are the same. The
velocity at any point on an elliptical orbit at a distance d from the center of the earth is given by

Where ‘a’ is the semi-major axis of the elliptical orbit. The orbital period in case of an elliptical
orbit is given by

Kepler’s Laws:
The movement of a satellite in an orbit is governed by three Kepler’s laws. These laws are
equally valid for the motion of natural and artificial satellites around Earth or for anybody
revolving around another body.

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Kepler’s First Law:

The orbit of a satellite around earth is elliptical with the center of the earth lying at one of the foci
of the ellipse. The elliptical orbit is characterized by its semi-major axis a and eccentricity e.
Eccentricity is the ratio of the distance between the center of the ellipse and either of its foci (=ae)
to the semi-major axis of the ellipse a.
A circular orbit is a special case of an elliptical orbit where the foci merge together to give a single
central point and the eccentricity becomes zero.
For any elliptical motion, the law of conservation of energy is valid at all points on the orbit.
In case of elliptical orbit the kinetic and potential energy of a satellite at any point at a distance
‘r’ from its center of Earth given by

Fig.4 Keplar’s First Law

Velocity of satellite in elliptical orbit.

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Kepler’s Second Law:

For equal time intervals a satellite will sweeps out equal areas in its orbital plane.

.
Where the rate of change of swept out area is given by

dA = Angular momentum of the satellite

dt 2m

Where m is mass of the satellite. Hence, kepler’s second law is also equivalent to the law of
conservation of momentum, which implies that the angular momentum of the orbiting satellite
given by the product of the radius vector and component of linear momentum perpendicular to
the radius vector is constant at all points on the orbit.

Kepler’s Third Law:

The square of the time period of any satellite is proportional to the enable of semi-major axis of
its elliptical orbit.
Considering a circular orbit of radius ‘r’ (where semi-major axis=semi-minor axis)
Equating the forces on the satellite.

Replacing ‘v’ by ‘Wr’

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Orbital Parameters:

Generally, satellite orbit is elliptical which is characterized by a number of parameters. These only
include the geometrical parameters of the orbit but also parameters that define its orientation with
respect to earth.

1. Ascending and Descending Nodes: The satellite cuts the equatorial plane at two points.
When the satellite is traveling from south to north over the Earth's surface is called Ascending
node.
When the satellite is traveling from north to south over the Earth's surface is called Descending
node.

2. Equinoxes: the inclination of the equatorial plane of Earth with respect to the direction of
the sun, defined by the angle formed by the line joining the center of the Earth and the sun
with the Earth’s equatorial plane follows a sinusoidal variation and completes one cycle of
sinusoidal variation over a period of 365 days. The sinusoidal variation of the angle of
inclination id defined by
Inclination angle(in degrees) = 23.4 sin(2π/ T)

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 3. Solstices: Solstices are the times when the inclination angle is at its maximum, i.e 23.40.
These also occur twice during a year on 20.21 June, called the summer solstices and 21-22
December, called the winter solstice.
4. Apogee: Apogee is the point on the satellite orbit that is at the farthest distance from the
center of the Earth. The apogee distance can be computed from the known values of the
orbit eccentricity ‘e’ and the semi-major axis ‘a’
Apogee distance = a (1+e)

The apogee distance can also be computed from the known values of the perigee distance and
velocity at the perigee Vp from

5. Perigee: Perigee is the point on the orbit that is nearest to the center of the Earth. The
perigee distance can be computed from the known values of orbit eccentricity e and the
semi-major axis a from
Perigee distance= a (1-e)

6. Eccentricity: the orbit eccentricity e is the ratio of the distance between the center of the
ellipse and the center of the Earth to the semi-major axis of the ellipse.

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 7. Semi-major axis: this is a geometrical parameter of an elliptical orbit. It can, however, be
computed from known values of apogee and perigee distance as
a = apogee-perigee
2
8. Right ascension of the ascending node:Ω Right ascension of the ascending node tells
about the orientation of the line of node, which is the line joining the ascending and
descending nodes with respect to the direction vernal equinox. It is expressed as an angle
measured from the vernal equinox towards the line of nodes in the direction of rotation of
Earth. The angle could be anywhere from 00 to 3600.

9. Inclination: It is the angle that the orbital plan of the satellite makes with the Earth’s
equilateral plan. It is measured from ascending node to the orbit from the equilateral plan.

10. Argument of the perigee: this parameter defines the location of the major axis of the
satellite orbit. It is measured as the angle ω between the line joining the perigee and the
entre of the Earth and the line of nodes from the ascending node to the descending node in
the same direction as that of the satellite orbit.

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 11. True anomaly of the satellite: this parameter is used to indicate the position of the
satellite in its orbit. This is done by defining an angle ϴ called the true anomaly of the
satellite, formed by the line joining the perigee and the centre of the Earth with the line
joining the satellite and the centre of the Earth.

12. Angle defining the direction of the satellite: The direction of the satellite is defined by
two angles, the first by angle between the direction of the satellite’s velocity vector and its
projection in the local horizontal and the second by the angle Az between the north and the
projection of the satellite’s velocity vector on the local horizontal.

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 Injection Velocity and Resulting Satellite Trajectories
The horizontal velocity with which a satellite is injected into space by the launch vehicle with the
intention of imparting a specific trajectory to the satellite has a direct bearing on the satellite
trajectory. The phenomenon is explained in terms of the three cosmic velocities.
The general expression for the velocity of a satellite at the perigee point (Vp), assuming an
elliptical orbit, is given by

Where
A=apogee
P=perigee
µ= GM= constant

First Cosmic Velocity/First Orbital Velocity V1:

1. First Cosmic Velocity/First Orbital Velocity, V1 is the one at which apogee and perigee
distance are equal, that is A=P and the orbit is circular

Irrespective of the distance P of satellite from the center of the Earth, if the injection
velocity is equal to the first cosmic velocity, the satellite follows a circular orbit and moves
with a uniform velocity equal to V1. For example, for a satellite at 35786 km above the
surface of Earth, the first cosmic turns out to be 3.075 km/s and the orbital period is 23
hours 56 minutes, which is equal to the time period of the Earth.

Fig: Satellite path where the injection velocity is equal to the first orbital velocity

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 2. If the injection velocity happens to be less than the first cosmic velocity, the satellite
follows a ballistic trajectory and fall back to Earth. In this case the orbit is elliptical, and
the injection point is at the apogee and not the perigee. If the perigee lies in the atmosphere
or exists only virtually below the surface of the Earth, the satellite accomplishes a ballistic
flight and falls back to Earth.

3.

Second Cosmic Velocity V2:

1. When the injection velocity equal √2µ/P, the apogee distance A becomes infinite and the
orbit takes the shape of a parabola and the orbit eccentricity is 1. This is the second cosmic
velocity V2. At this velocity the satellite escapes Earth’s gravitational pull.

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 Fig: satellite Path where the injection path equal to the second orbital velocity
2. For an injection velocity greater than the second cosmic velocity, the trajectory is
hyperbolic within the solar system and the orbit eccentricity is greater than 1

Third cosmic Velocity V3: If the injection velocity increased further, a stage is reached
where the satellite succeeds in escaping from the solar system. V3 is related to the motion
of planet around the sun.

Where Vt is the speed of Earth’s revolution around the sun.

Beyond the third cosmic velocity, there is a region of hyperbolic flights outside the solar
system. In elliptical orbit, the greater the injection velocity from the first cosmic velocity,
the greater the apogee distance.

Types of Satellite Orbits:

Satellite orbit around the Earth along predetermined repetitive paths called orbit. The orbit
is characterized by its elements or parameters. The orbital elements of a satellite depend
upon its intended application. Satellite orbit can be classified on the basis of
1. Orientation of the orbital plane
2. Eccentricity
3. Distance from the Earth

1. Orientation of the orbital plane: The orbital plane of the satellite can have various
orientations with respect to the equatorial plane of Earth. The angle between the two
planes is called the angle of inclination of the satellite. On the basis, the orbits can be
classified as
a. Equatorial orbit
b. Polar orbit
c. Inclined orbit

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In case of equatorial orbit, the angle of inclination is zero i.e the orbital plan of satellite coincides
with the Earth’s equatorial plan. A satellite in the equatorial orbit has latitude of 00.

For an angle of inclination equal to 900, the satellite is said to be in the polar orbit.

For an angle of inclination between 00 and 1800, the orbit is said to be an inclined orbit.

Prograde Orbit (Inclination Angle 0 to 900) Retrograde Orbit (Inclination Angle 900 to 1800)
Satellite travels in the same direction of Satellite orbit in opposite direction of Earth.
rotation of the Earth

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 2. Eccentricity: Based on eccentricity, the orbits are classified as elliptical and circular.
When the orbit eccentricity lies between 0 and 1, the orbit is elliptical with the centre of
the Earth lying at one of the foci of the ellipse.

When the eccentricity is 0, the orbit is circular.

Molniya Orbit:

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 3. Distance from Earth:

Depending upon the intended mission, satellite may be placed in orbits at varying distance from
the surface of the Earth.

a. Low Earth Orbits (LEOs)

b. Medium Earth Orbits (MEOs)
c. Geostationary Earth Orbits (GEOs)

Low Earth Orbits (LEOs):

• Satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) orbit Erath at a height of around 160 to 500km above the
surface of the Earth.
• These satellites, begin closer to the surface of the Earth, have much shorter orbital periods
and smaller signal propagation delays.
• A lower propagation delay makes them highly suitable for communication applications.
• Due to less propagation delay, the power required for signal transmission is also less, with
the result that the satellites are of small physical size and are inexpensive to build.
• LEOs have shorter orbital period, of the order of an hour and a half or so, these satellites
remain over a ground station for a short time. Hence, several of these satellites are needed
for 24-hour coverage.
• One important application of LEO satellites for communication is the project iridium,
which is a global communication system conceived by Motorola. A total of 66 satellites
are arranged in a distributed architecture, with each satellite carrying 1/66 of total system
capacity. The system is intended to provide a variety of telecommunication service at the
global level.
• LEO satellites are used for surveillance, weather forecasting, remote sensing and scientific
studies.

Medium Earth Orbits (MEOs):

• Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite orbit at a distance of approximately 10000 to

20000km above the surface of the Earth.
• They have an orbital period of 6 to 12 hours.
• These satellites stay in sight over a particular region of Earth for a longer time. The
transmission distance and propagation delays are greater than those for LEO satellite.
• These orbits are generally polar in nature and are mainly used for communication and
navigation applications.

Geostationary Earth Orbits (GEOs):

• A geosynchronous Earth orbit is a prograde orbit whose orbital period is equal to Earth’s
rotational period. If such an orbit were in the plane of the equator and circular, it would

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 remain stationary with respect to a given point on the Earth. These orbits are referred to
as the geostationary Earth orbits(GEOs)
• For the satellite to have such an orbital velocity, it needs to be at a height of about
36000km, 35786km to be precise, above the surface of the Earth.
• To be more precise and technical, in order to remain above the same point on the Earth’s
surface, a satellite must fulfill the following conditions;
✓ It must have constant latitude, which is possible only at 00
✓ The orbit inclination should be zero
✓ It should have a constant longitude and thus have a uniform angular velocity,
which is possible when the orbit is circular.
✓ The orbital period should be equal to 23 hours 56 minutes, which implies that the
satellite mush orbit at a height of 35786 km above the surface of the Earth.
✓ The satellite motion must be from the surface of the east.
• Satellites in geostationary orbits are used in relaying communication and TV broadcast
signals around the globe. They also perform meteorological and military surveillance
functions very effectively.

Sun –Synchronous Orbit:

Another type of satellite orbit, which could have been categorized as a LEO on the basis of distance
from the surface of the Earth, needs a special mention and treatment because of its particular
importance to satellites intended for remote sensing and military reconnaissance applications.
A sun- synchronous orbit, also known as a helio-synchronous orbit, is one that lies in a plane that
maintains a fixed angle with respect to the Earth-sum direction, i.e, the orbital plane has a fixed
orientation with respect to the Earth-sun direction and the angle between the orbital plane and the
Earth-sun line remains constant throughout the year, as shown in figure. Satellites in sun-
synchronous orbits are particularly suited to applications like passive remote sensing,
meteorological, military reconnaissance and atmospheric studies.

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Every time a sun-synchronous satellite completes one revolution around Earth, it traverses a thin
strip on the surface of the Earth. During the next revolution it traverses another strip shifted
westwards and process of shift continues with successive revolution, as shown in figure.
Depending upon the orbital parameters and speed of rotation of Earth, after making a certain
number of revolutions around Earth, it comes back close to the first strip that it had traversed. It
may not exactly overlap the first strip, as the mean distance between the two strips, called the
tracking interval, may not be an integral multiple of the equatorial perimeter. However, the number
of revolutions required before the satellite repeats the same strip sequence can certainly be
calculated. This is called one complete orbital cycle, which is basically the time that elapses before
the satellite revisits a given location in the same direction.

Orbital Perturbations (Disturbance):

The satellite once placed in its orbit; experiences various perturbing torques that cause variations
in its orbital parameters with time. These include gravitational forces from other bodies like solar
and lunar attraction, magnetic field interaction, solar radiation pressure, asymmetry of Earth’s
gravitational field etc.

Due to these factors, the satellite orbit tends to drift, and its orientation also changes and hence the
true orbit of the satellite is different from that defined using kepler’s laws. The satellite’s position
thus needs to be controlled both in the east-west as the north-south directions. The east-west
location needs to be maintained to prevent radio frequency (RF) interference from neighboring
satellites. It may be mentioned here that in the case of a geostationary satellite a 10 drift in the east
or west direction is equivalent to a drift of about 735km along the orbit.

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Due to asymmetry of Earth:
• The Earth is not a perfect sphere and is flattened at the poles
• The equatorial diameter is about 20-40 km more than the average polar diameter.
• Equatorial radius of the Earth is not constant.
• The average density of Earth is not uniform
• Because of these factors there is non-uniform gravitational field around the Earth which in
turn results in variation in gravitational force acting on the satellite due to the Earth.
• It is more predominate for geostationary satellites than for satellite orbiting in low Earth
orbits.
• In the case of a geostationary satellite, these forces result in an acceleration or deceleration
component that varies with the longitudinal location of the satellite.

The gravitational pulls of the sun and Moon:

• the Earth orbit around the sun is an ellipse whose plane is inclined at an angle of 70 with
respect to the equatorial plane of the sun.
• the Earth is tilted around 230 away from the normal to the ecliptic
• the moon revolves around the earth with an inclination of around 50 to equatorial plane of
the Earth.
• Hence, the satellite in orbit is subjected to variety of out-of- plane forces which change the
inclination on the satellite orbit.

As the perturbed orbit is not an ellipse anymore, the satellite does not return to the same point in
space after one revolution.
The time elapsed between the successive perigees passages are referred to as anomalistic period.

W0 is the angular velocity for spherical Earth, k=660631704km, a is semi-major axis, e is the
eccentricity and i=cos-1WZ is the Z axis component of the orbit normal.

Orbital perturbation control method:

The orbit control is performed by firing thrusters in the desired direction or by releasing jets of
gas.
Thrusters and gas jets are used to correct the longitudinal drift (in-plane changes) and the
inclination changes (out of plane change).
The attitude and orbit control system maintain the satellite’s position and its orientation and keeps
the antenna pointed correctly in the desired direction.
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Satellite Stabilization:
When the satellite is placed into the stable orbit then the attitude of the satellite is set by firing the
jet thrusters present in the satellite. Therefore, once the initial attitude of the satellite is set it must
be maintained in position. This achieved by stabilization techniques.
1. Spin stabilization
2. Three –axis or body stabilization

Spin stabilization:
• Spin stable satellite are cylindrical in shape.
• The satellite body is rotate at a rate between 30 to 100rpm about an axis perpendicular to
the orbital plane.
• Like a spinning top, the rotating body offers inertial stiffness, which prevents the satellite
from drifting from its desired orientation.
• In the dual spinner configuration, the entire payload along with the antenna and the feed is
placed on the de-spun platform and the other subsystems are located on the spinning body.
• Mounting of the antenna system on the de-spun platform in both the configurations ensures
a constant pointing direction of the antenna.
• In both configurations, solar cells are mounted on the cylindrical body of the satellite.
• Intelsat-1 to intelsat-4, intelsat-6 and TIROS-1 are some of the popular spin- stabilized
satellites.

Three-axis method
Stabilization is achieved by controlling the movement of the satellite along the three axes.

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 • The system uses reaction wheels or momentum wheels to correct the orbit perturbations.
• The stability of the three-axis system is provided by the active control system, which
applies small corrective forces on the wheels to correct the undesirable changes in the
satellite orbit.

Comparison:

Spin Three Axis

More power Generation Less power Generation
capacity capacity
Spin stabilized are simple Three axis stabilized are
in design complex in design
Spin stabilized are less More expensive
expensive

Orbital Effects on satellite’s performance:

Satellite revolves constantly around the Earth. The motion of the satellite has
significant effects on its performance.
1. Doppler Shift
2. Effect due to variation in the orbital distance
3. Effect of solar eclipse
4. Sun’s transit outrage

1 Doppler Shift: Doppler Effect refers to the change in frequency during the
relative motion between satellite and Earth station terminal.
• If the frequency transmitted by the satellite is fT, then the received frequency
fR is given by the equation.

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Where
Vr is the component of the satellite transmitter velocity vector directed towards the
Earth station receiver.
Vp is the phase velocity of the light in free space (3*108 m/s)

2. Variation in the orbital Distance:

• Variation in the orbital distance results in variation in the range between the
satellite and Earth station terminal.
• If a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) scheme is employed by the
satellite, the timing of the frames within the TDMA bursts should be worked
out carefully so that the user terminals receive the correct data at the correct
time.
• Range variations are more predominate in low and medium Earth orbiting
satellites as compared to the geostationary satellite.

3. Solar Eclipse:
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon gets between Earth and the sun,
and the moon casts a shadow over Earth.
• During the solar eclipse satellite do not receive the solar radiation.
• During these periods, the satellites operate using onboard batteries. These
batteries provide continuous power.
• Ground control stations perform battery conditioning routines prior to the
occurrence of an eclipse to ensure best performance during the eclipse.
• Also, the rapidity with which the satellite enters and exits the shadow of the
celestial body creates sudden temperature stress situations.
• Thermal stress.

4. Sun Transit outrage:

When the satellite passes directly between the sun and Earth.
• The Earth station Antenna will receive signal from the satellite as well as the
microwave radiation emitted by the sun.
• This might cause temporary outrage if the magnitude of the solar radiation
exceeds the fade margin of the receiver.
• The traffic of the satellite may be shifted to other satellites during such
periods.

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 Fig: Sun outrage condition

Eclipse: An eclipse of the sun is an occasion when the moon is between the Earth
and the sun.

Solar Eclipse:
• An eclipse occurs when the sunlight fails to reach the satellite’s solar panel
due to an obstruction from a celestial body.
• The major and frequency source of an eclipse is due to the satellite coming in
shadow of earth this is called solar eclipse.
• The eclipse, satellite fails to receive any light whatever if it passes through the
umbra, which is the dark central region of the shadow, and receives very little
light if it passes through the penumbra.

• The eclipse occurs as the Earth’s equatorial plane is inclined at a constant

angle of about 23.50.

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 • Eclipse is seen on 42 nights during the spring and an equal number of nights
during the autumn by the geostationary satellite.

• The equinox is the point in time when the sun crosses the equator, making the
day and night equal in length. The spring and autumn equinoxes respectively
occur on 20-21 March and 23-23 September.
• From 21 days before and 21 days after the equinoxes, the satellite crosses the
umbral cone each day for some time, thereby receiving only a part of solar
light for that time.
• During the rest of the year, the geostationary satellite orbit passes either above
or below the umbral cone.
• It is at the maximum distance at the time of the solstices, above the umbral
cone at the time of the summer solstice (20-21 June) and below it at the time
of the winter solstice (21-22 December).

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 • The duration of the eclipse increases from zero to about 72 Minutes starting
21 day before equinox and then decreases from 72 minutes to zero for 21 days
following the equinox.

Lunar Eclipse:
Lunar eclipse occurs when the moon’s shadow passes across the satellite.
This is much less common and occurs once in 29 years.

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Look angle of a satellite:
• The look angle of a satellite refers to the coordinates to which an Earth station
must be pointed in order to communicate with the satellite and are expressed
in terms of azimuth and elevation angle.
• The process of pointing the Earth station antenna accurately towards the
satellite can be accomplished if the azimuth and elevation angle of the Earth
station location are known.
• In order to determine the look angles of a satellite, its precise location should
be known.
• The location of a satellite is very often determined by the position of the sub-
satellite point. The sub-satellite point is the location on the surface of the Earth
that lies directly between the satellite and the centre of the Earth. To an
observer on the sub-satellite point the satellite will appear to be directly
overhead.

Azimuth Angle:

The azimuth angle A of an Earth station is defined as the angle produced by

the line of intersection of the local horizontal plane and the plane passing
through the Earth station, the satellite and the centre of the Earth with the true
north.

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The azimuth angle can be computed as follows:
1. Earth station in the northern hemisphere:

A=1800- A’ where the Earth station is to the west of the satellite

A=1800+A’ where the Earth station is to the east of the satellite

2. Earth station in the southern hemisphere:

A= A’ when the Earth station is to the west of the satellite
A=360 - A’
0
when the Earth station is to the east of the satellite

Where A’ can be computed from

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Elevation Angle:

The Earth station Elevation angle E is the angle between the line of intersection of
the local horizontal plane and the plane passing through the Earth station, the satellite
and the centre of the Earth with the line joining the Earth station and the satellite.

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