Exercise 1 – Orbital Mechanics  Procedure

Types of orbits

In this section, you will load a file containing satellites with different types of
orbits. You will observe how the orbital elements determine the type of orbit and
its characteristics.

14. The LVSAT Orbit Simulator allows you to create individual satellites manually
or to load satellites from a file. A number of preconfigured satellite files are
included with the software.

In the menu bar, choose File  Load Satellites. When asked if you wish to
remove all satellites, click Yes. In the Open dialog box, find and open the
folder Satellite Files. Load the file Satellite set 1.xml.

a The pre-configured satellite files are typically installed in the folder:

C:\Program Files\Lab-Volt\LVSat\Orbit Simulator\Satellite Files.
It is suggested that you store user-created satellite files in a different folder.

The satellites in the loaded file will appear in the Orbit Simulator. The title bar
shows the name of the last file loaded or saved.

a By default, a “P” identifies the perigee of each orbit. However, when the
eccentricity e 0, the orbit is circular and there is no perigee. In this case, the
“P” shows where the perigee would be, according to the current Argument of
Perigee setting, if the eccentricity were to become non-zero.

Make the following settings:

General Settings
Active Satellite
Orbital Plane .................................................. Hide
State Vectors ................................................. Hide
Footprint......................................................... Hide
Swath ............................................................. Hide
3D and Map Views
Map Type ....................................................... Satellite
Equator .......................................................... Hide
Prime Meridian ............................................... Hide
3D View
3D Earth......................................................... Show
Azimuth/Elevation Angles .............................. Hide
Earth-Satellite Geometry................................ Hide
Clarke Belt ..................................................... Hide
Equatorial Plane ............................................ Hide
Ecliptic Plane ................................................. Hide
Perigees......................................................... Show
Axes
ECI (Earth-Centered Inertial) ......................... Show
EFG (Earth-Fixed Greenwich) ....................... Show
SOF (Satellite-Orbit Fixed)............................. Hide
SEZ (South East Zenith) ................................ Hide
Camera Frame ............................................... ECI
Earth Station
Location ......................................................... Hide

58 © Festo Didactic 87768-00

Exercise 1 – Orbital Mechanics  Procedure

15. Each satellite in the animation has a series of settings in the Satellite
Settings window. These settings display orbital elements and other
parameters for the satellite. The satellite settings are divided into the
following groups.

Setting or
Purpose
Group

Satellite name The name of the satellite.

The color used for:

Color 3D view: The satellite and its path
Map view: The subsatellite point and the ground track

Orbital
Settings that define the satellite’s orbit.
Elements

3D view Settings that control the display of the satellite in the 3D view.

Settings that control the display of coverage information in the

Coverage
3D and Map views.

Settings that control the orientation of the antenna (or sensor) on

the active satellite and the antenna beamwidth (or sensor field of
Antenna/Sensor
view). These affect the Footprint, when shown, in the 3D and
Map views.

For the next few steps, you will observe how the orbital elements determine
the type of orbit and its characteristics. In the Satellite Settings, expand the
Orbital Elements group for each satellite.

16. Start time and observe the satellites in the 3D view. Use the mouse to
change the camera position.

Describe the general shape of the orbits.

Does this correspond to Kepler’s first law?

17. Examine the orbital elements of each satellite and fill in Table 4. Identify the
type of orbit in the last row, using the following names:

GEO Near equatorial LEO MEO HEO (Molniya) polar LEO

© Festo Didactic 87768-00 59

Exercise 1 – Orbital Mechanics  Procedure

Table 4. Orbit types.

Orbital Element SAT-1 SAT-2 SAT-3 SAT-4 SAT-5

Eccentricity
Semi-major axis (km)
Inclination ()
Period (hh:mm:ss)
Type of orbit

In the Satellite Settings, or the Satellite Editor, change the name of each
satellite to the name above that best describes it.

Choose File  Save Satellites As and save the file in a different folder and
with a different name.

18. Pause time. In the Satellite Settings window, locate the settings for the active
satellite. Under Orbital Elements, click the Mean Anomaly at Epoch setting.
Enter a different value between 0 and 360 and note how this affects the
active satellite.

b Without clicking the mouse button, enter a different value and press Enter.
Without clicking elsewhere, roll the mouse button and observe how the satellite
changes position. Then roll the mouse button while holding down the Ctrl key.

Does changing the Mean Anomaly at Epoch modify the orbital path of the
satellite? What is the purpose of this orbital parameter?

60 © Festo Didactic 87768-00