ORBITAL ALTITUDE AND INCLINATION


We are going to analyze three different orbital altitudes and two orbital inclinations for our launch vehicle, which is described in the next section.

The minimum altitude needed to orbit the Earth is 200 km. This altitude is temporary, since there is a relatively high degree of orbital decay. This altitude will be used as a starting point for our analysis.

A better orbital altitude happens to be 901 km, which will be labeled Standard Earth Orbit (SEO). This altitude provides for an extremely stable orbit essentially free of orbital decay and will be perfect for a large and heavy space station without the inconvenience of repetitive orbital re–boost.  Both cargo and passengers will fly to this altitude, which will circle the Earth exactly 14 times in 24 hours. The orbit will facilitate regularly scheduled spaceflights on a daily basis since the ground tracks repeat, and the same spot in space flies over the launch site every 24 hours.

Finally, the equation for any launch vehicle is dependent on the latitude of the launch site; the closer to the equator, the more that can be lofted into the air, taking advantage of the Earth's spin.

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