[amsat-bb] Re: High orbit satellites?

[Ross Whenmouth]

Hi,

I think it takes about 2500m/s delta V to get from from LEO to a GTO.
How feasible is it to use some type of an electric thruster (high 
specific impulse but low net thrust - eg a hall effect thruster or 
similar device) to slowly crawl up to GTO from LEO?

I imagine that such a bird would charge it's batteries from solar power 
for most of an orbit, and would power the thruster from battery power 
during each perigee to slowly raise the apogee altitude. This would 
allow the use of a thruster with an peak electrical demand that is 
higher than the peak power generating capacity of the PV cells.


73 ZL2WRW Ross Whenmouth