Geosynchronous Orbit

About 35,786 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, satellites are in

geostationary orbit. From the center of the Earth, this is
approximately 42,164 kilometers. This distance puts it in the high
Earth orbit category.

At any inclination, a geosynchronous orbit synchronizes with the

rotation of the Earth. More specifically, the time it takes for the Earth
to rotate on its axis is 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds, which is
the same as a satellite in a geosynchronous orbit.

If you are an observer on the ground, you would see the satellite as if
it’s in a fixed position without movement.

This makes geosynchronous satellites particularly useful for

telecommunications and other remote sensing applications.

Geostationary Orbits

Geostationary Orbits

While geosynchronous satellites can have any inclination, the key difference to geostationary
orbit is the fact that they lie on the same plane as the equator.
Geostationary orbits fall in the same category as geosynchronous orbits, but it’s parked over
the equator. This one special quality makes it unique from geosynchronous orbits.

Weather monitoring satellites like GOES are in geostationary orbits because they have a
constant view of the same area. In a high Earth orbit, it’s also useful for search and rescue
beacons.

Here’s how both orbits compare:

While the geostationary orbit lies on the same plane as the equator, the geosynchronous
satellites has a different inclination.
This is the key difference between the two types of orbits.

What is the difference between geostationary and

geosynchronous orbits?
Geosynchronous - An orbit around Earth whose orbital period is equal to a sidereal day
(23 hours, 56 minutes), irrespective of its inclination.

- A person on a point on Earth, will see a satellite in this orbit in the same place in the sky at
the same time of the day, everyday.

Satelit Geostasioner
Geostationary - A geosynchronous orbit around Earth at 35,786 km above the
equator, so that it remains stationary as seen from Earth.

Jika satelit bergerak dengan kecepatan 3 km/detik, mengapa antena parabola

penerima sinyal satelit tidak perlu diubah-ubah arahnya?

Karena walaupun satelit bergerak, gerakannya dibuat sama dengan

kecepatan permukaan Bumi. Sehingga posisinya akan sama relatif terhadap
permukaan Bumi.

Semakin rendah ketinggian orbit satelit, maka semakin tinggi kecepatan satelit
yang diperlukan untuk mempertahankan orbit. Sebaliknya, semakin tinggi
ketinggian orbit, maka semakin rendah kecepatan satelit yang diperlukan.

Dari hubungan tersebut, dapat dicari ketinggian orbit dimana kecepatan sudut
satelit akan sama dengan kecepatan sudut permukaan Bumi. Ketinggian orbit
tersebut adalah 35786 km di atas permukaan bumi.

Orbit dengan ketinggian 35786 km dinamakan orbit geostasioner. Satelit yang

diletakkan di ketinggian ini akan memiliki posisi yang konstan relatif terhadap
permukaan bumi. Syaratnya, satelit harus berada di atas khatulistiwa, dan
bergerak searah dengan arah rotasi Bumi.

Karena posisinya konstan relatif terhadap permukaan Bumi, maka antena

parabola penerima sinyal satelit hanya perlu diarahkan ke arah yang konstan,
dan arahnya tak perlu diganti selama satelit masih operasional dan tidak
mengalami perubahan posisi.

Karena satelit geostasioner berada di atas khatulistiwa, maka penerima di

utara khatulistiwa perlu mengarahkan antena parabola ke selatan. Dan
sebaliknya, penerima di selatan khatulistiwa perlu mengarahkan antena
parabolanya ke utara.

- A person on any point on Earth, will see a satellite in this orbit stationary w.r.t his position,
just like a star in the sky.

HOW TO CALCULATE THE

PERIOD AND ORBITING
RADIUS OF A
GEOSYNCHRONOUS
SATELLITE
By Steven Holzner

When a satellite travels in a geosynchronous orbit around the Earth,

it needs to travel at a certain orbiting radius and period to maintain
this orbit. Because the radius and period are related, you can use
physics to calculate one if you know the other.

The period of a satellite is the time it takes it to make one full orbit
around an object. The period of the Earth as it travels around the
sun is one year. If you know the satellite’s speed and the radius at
which it orbits, you can figure out its period.
You can calculate the speed of a satellite around an object using
the equation

The satellite travels around the entire circumference of the circle —

which is

if r is the radius of the orbit — in the period, T. This means the

orbital speed must be

must be

giving you

If you solve this for the period of the satellite, you get

You, the intuitive physicist, may be wondering: What if you want to

examine a satellite that simply stays stationary over the same place
on the Earth at all times? In other words, a satellite whose period is
the same as the Earth’s 24-hour period? Can you do it?

Such satellites do exist. They’re very popular for communications

because they’re always orbiting in the same spot relative to the
Earth; they don’t disappear over the horizon and then reappear
later. They also allow for the satellite-based global positioning
system, or GPS, to work.
In cases of stationary satellites, the period, T, is 24 hours, or about
86,400 seconds. Can you find the distance a stationary satellite
needs be from the center of the Earth (that is, the radius) to stay
stationary? Using the equation for periods, you see that

Plugging in the numbers, you get

If you take the cube root of this, you get a radius of

This is the distance the satellite needs to be from the center of the
Earth. Subtracting the Earth’s radius of

you get

which converts to about 22,300 miles. This is the distance from the
surface of the Earth geosynchronous satellites need to orbit. At this
distance, they orbit the Earth at the same rate the Earth is turning,
which means that they stay put over the same piece of real estate.

In practice, it’s very hard to get the speed just right, which is why
geosynchronous satellites have either gas boosters that can be
used for fine-tuning or magnetic coils that allow them to move by
pushing against the Earth’s magnetic field.
Satelit geostasioner adalah satelit dengan periode sama dengan periode
rotasi Bumi, relatif diam diatas sebuah titik di permukaan Bumi. Satelit
geosinkron satelit yang bergerak dengan periode dan jarak tertentu,
namun selalu tetap berada di atas sebuah titik yang sama di permukaan
Bumi. Gunakan Hukum Keppler III untuk menjawab pertanyaan berikut:

1. Berapakah tinggi h, dari sebuah satelit geostasioner.

2. Hitunglah periode yang dibutuhkan Sputnik I (diluncurkan tahun
1957) dengan ketinggian orbit h=200 kilometer dari permukaan Bumi,
agar ia menjadi satelit geosinkron.

Petunjuk:
RBumi=6378,14 km
Rotasi Bumi, P= 24 jam = 1440 menit
Kecepatan lingkaran titik massa m yang terletak di Bumi, Vc = 7,9 km/det
Periode Satelit “dekat” Bumi (dekat bumi=titik di permukaan
Bumi)=84,5 menit
“Opo toh satelit geosinkron iku??”
Seperti yang diutarakan di soal, satelit geosinkron punya periode
yang sinkron/cocok dengan periode rotasi sidereal bumi (yang 23 jam 56
menit itu loh) sehingga satelit itu akan muncul pada jam dan sama sekali
setiap satu hari di sebuah lokasi di bumi. Periode itu bisa berapa saja dan
tinggi satelit bisa berapa saja asal sinkron dengan rotasi bumi.
“Lha terus, satelit geostasioner iku sing endi?”
Dari namanya saja sudah kelihatan, geo-stasioner, berarti diam
(statis) di atas bumi. Satelit geostasioner punya periode rotasi 23 jam 56
menit, sama persis seperti periode rotasi bumi. Alhasil, satelit ini
mengamati area itu-itu saja. Bayangkan aja ada globe, lalu tancapkan
batang besi dengan ujung bundar di atas Singapura, dan putarlah globe itu.
Di setiap detik, tiap menit, tiap jam, tiap hari…. ujung bundar dari batang
besi akan selalu berada di atas Singapura. Seperti itulah geostasioner
bekerja.
Sebenarnya, satelit geostasioner adalah satelit geosinkron yang
spesial. Kok spesial?
Kayak nasi goreng aja.. pake spesial-spesial…
Spesial karena
1) Bidang orbit satelit selalu di ekuator Bumi (sudut inklinasi 0),
2) Periode satelit selalu 23 jam 56 menit
3) orbitnya hampir melingkar (eksentrisitas mendekati 0).
 Satelit geosinkron biasa bisa mengorbit di mana saja, dengan
periode berapa saja asal cocok/sinkron dengan periode rotasi sidereal
bumi, dan dengan bentuk orbit elips. Itulah bedanya.
(Keterangan lebih lanjut buka Wikipedia: Geosynchronous Orbit)
Nah, ayo kita mulai mengerjakan!
Hukum Keppler III

Dengan P = periode dan a = tinggi orbit dari pusat bumi.

a) Kita anggap satelit 1 satelit geostasioner, dan satelit 2 satelit “khayal”
yang mengorbit di permukaan sepanjang ekuator. Satelit 1 punya periode
P=1440 menit dan a dicari. Satelit 2 punya P = 84,5 menit (diberikan di
soal) dan a sama dengan jari-jari bumi (6378,14 km)

b) Kita anggap satelit 1 satelit geosinkron dengan a= 6378,14 km + 200 km =

6578,14 km dan P dicari sedangkan satelit 2 satelit dekat bumi. Tetap memakai
hukum Keppler III.