[amsat-bb] Re: Path to HEO

[Stefan Wagener]

Thanks Bob,

That's why it is important to read the complete conversation.

This is NOT about Cubesats, staying in orbit, etc. It is about getting into
an HEO beyond 20000km.


On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 1:34 PM, Robert Bruninga <bruninga at usna.edu> wrote:

> > Going from 310 to 700km in a year is not doing us anything.
>
> Im not following this closely, but that statement misses the most
> important reason for doing this...
>
> *to*stay*in*orbit!
>
> The lifetime of a cubesat at 310km is only a few weeks at most.  The life
> time at 700km is tens of years.
>
> The minimum requirement then for an ION thruster, then, is to be able to
> at least be slightly greater than the loss on every orbit.  Then it is
> worth its weight in gold!
>
> Bob, Wb4APR
>