What is the most aerodynamic Satellite?
From what I understand at least in the lower orbits you want the least amount of drag possible.
My brain is telling me that a long pole or submarine shape satellite orientated to the direction of travel or direction of solar wind would be best and not a ball at all?
Would adding a smooth skin to take out the contour between the parts on the ISS create less drag?
At what point does the extra weight and mass to make a satellite aerodynamic cost more fuel then saved?
artificial-satellite design aerodynamics drag
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
add a comment |
From what I understand at least in the lower orbits you want the least amount of drag possible.
My brain is telling me that a long pole or submarine shape satellite orientated to the direction of travel or direction of solar wind would be best and not a ball at all?
Would adding a smooth skin to take out the contour between the parts on the ISS create less drag?
At what point does the extra weight and mass to make a satellite aerodynamic cost more fuel then saved?
artificial-satellite design aerodynamics drag
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
2
Aerodynamics at a pressure of about 1 bar and subsonic speeds may be very different to drag in a nearly perfect vacuum and at hypersonic orbital speed.
– Uwe
17 hours ago
1
@Uwe If you released 2 rubber balloons with a .2psi from the bow of the ISS one shaped as a strait noodle balloon and the other round how much would "nearly" effect each balloon?
– Muze
17 hours ago
At theses speed and pressure cross section is all that matter.
– Antzi
4 hours ago
add a comment |
From what I understand at least in the lower orbits you want the least amount of drag possible.
My brain is telling me that a long pole or submarine shape satellite orientated to the direction of travel or direction of solar wind would be best and not a ball at all?
Would adding a smooth skin to take out the contour between the parts on the ISS create less drag?
At what point does the extra weight and mass to make a satellite aerodynamic cost more fuel then saved?
artificial-satellite design aerodynamics drag
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
From what I understand at least in the lower orbits you want the least amount of drag possible.
My brain is telling me that a long pole or submarine shape satellite orientated to the direction of travel or direction of solar wind would be best and not a ball at all?
Would adding a smooth skin to take out the contour between the parts on the ISS create less drag?
At what point does the extra weight and mass to make a satellite aerodynamic cost more fuel then saved?
artificial-satellite design aerodynamics drag
artificial-satellite design aerodynamics drag
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
asked 17 hours ago
Muze
1,8911055
1,8911055
2
Aerodynamics at a pressure of about 1 bar and subsonic speeds may be very different to drag in a nearly perfect vacuum and at hypersonic orbital speed.
– Uwe
17 hours ago
1
@Uwe If you released 2 rubber balloons with a .2psi from the bow of the ISS one shaped as a strait noodle balloon and the other round how much would "nearly" effect each balloon?
– Muze
17 hours ago
At theses speed and pressure cross section is all that matter.
– Antzi
4 hours ago
add a comment |
2
Aerodynamics at a pressure of about 1 bar and subsonic speeds may be very different to drag in a nearly perfect vacuum and at hypersonic orbital speed.
– Uwe
17 hours ago
1
@Uwe If you released 2 rubber balloons with a .2psi from the bow of the ISS one shaped as a strait noodle balloon and the other round how much would "nearly" effect each balloon?
– Muze
17 hours ago
At theses speed and pressure cross section is all that matter.
– Antzi
4 hours ago
2
2
Aerodynamics at a pressure of about 1 bar and subsonic speeds may be very different to drag in a nearly perfect vacuum and at hypersonic orbital speed.
– Uwe
17 hours ago
Aerodynamics at a pressure of about 1 bar and subsonic speeds may be very different to drag in a nearly perfect vacuum and at hypersonic orbital speed.
– Uwe
17 hours ago
1
1
@Uwe If you released 2 rubber balloons with a .2psi from the bow of the ISS one shaped as a strait noodle balloon and the other round how much would "nearly" effect each balloon?
– Muze
17 hours ago
@Uwe If you released 2 rubber balloons with a .2psi from the bow of the ISS one shaped as a strait noodle balloon and the other round how much would "nearly" effect each balloon?
– Muze
17 hours ago
At theses speed and pressure cross section is all that matter.
– Antzi
4 hours ago
At theses speed and pressure cross section is all that matter.
– Antzi
4 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
The only satellite I know of that was shaped to have low drag was GOCE, which orbited at 250 km.
Since it was vital to ensure that the measurements taken are of true gravity and not influenced by any movement of the satellite, this unique five-metre long arrow-shaped satellite had none of the moving parts often seen in other spacecraft. The satellite, together with its instrumentation, actually forms a single composite gravity-measuring device.
The satellite orbited Earth as low as possible to observe the strongest possible gravity-field signal – hence GOCE was designed to skim the edge of Earth's atmosphere at a height of about 250 km. Low fuel consumption meant that its altitude could be lowered to 235 km in 2012.
An electric ion thruster at the back of the satellite continuously generated tiny forces to compensate for any drag that GOCE experienced along its orbit.
The need to fly low and be ultra-stable led to a novel satellite design that minimised air drag and torque and excludes mechanical disturbances. The result was a slim 5 metre-long satellite with a cross sectional area of about 1m2, weighing in at about 1050 kg. The satellite was symmetrical about its horizontal plane and had two winglets that provided additional aerodynamic stability.
You can see this places constraints on the satellite's shape: you can't have protruding solar panels, antennas etc. This means it's only done when really necessary; for most purposes it's much cheaper to go to a slightly higher orbit instead.
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
That's very cool and new to me.
– Organic Marble
15 hours ago
The solar panels are built into it as shown and an antenna follows the wings. The space craft is on a lean performing a turn the belly facing towards the camera.
– Muze
14 hours ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
});
});
}, "mathjax-editing");
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "508"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fspace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f33198%2fwhat-is-the-most-aerodynamic-satellite%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
The only satellite I know of that was shaped to have low drag was GOCE, which orbited at 250 km.
Since it was vital to ensure that the measurements taken are of true gravity and not influenced by any movement of the satellite, this unique five-metre long arrow-shaped satellite had none of the moving parts often seen in other spacecraft. The satellite, together with its instrumentation, actually forms a single composite gravity-measuring device.
The satellite orbited Earth as low as possible to observe the strongest possible gravity-field signal – hence GOCE was designed to skim the edge of Earth's atmosphere at a height of about 250 km. Low fuel consumption meant that its altitude could be lowered to 235 km in 2012.
An electric ion thruster at the back of the satellite continuously generated tiny forces to compensate for any drag that GOCE experienced along its orbit.
The need to fly low and be ultra-stable led to a novel satellite design that minimised air drag and torque and excludes mechanical disturbances. The result was a slim 5 metre-long satellite with a cross sectional area of about 1m2, weighing in at about 1050 kg. The satellite was symmetrical about its horizontal plane and had two winglets that provided additional aerodynamic stability.
You can see this places constraints on the satellite's shape: you can't have protruding solar panels, antennas etc. This means it's only done when really necessary; for most purposes it's much cheaper to go to a slightly higher orbit instead.
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
That's very cool and new to me.
– Organic Marble
15 hours ago
The solar panels are built into it as shown and an antenna follows the wings. The space craft is on a lean performing a turn the belly facing towards the camera.
– Muze
14 hours ago
add a comment |
The only satellite I know of that was shaped to have low drag was GOCE, which orbited at 250 km.
Since it was vital to ensure that the measurements taken are of true gravity and not influenced by any movement of the satellite, this unique five-metre long arrow-shaped satellite had none of the moving parts often seen in other spacecraft. The satellite, together with its instrumentation, actually forms a single composite gravity-measuring device.
The satellite orbited Earth as low as possible to observe the strongest possible gravity-field signal – hence GOCE was designed to skim the edge of Earth's atmosphere at a height of about 250 km. Low fuel consumption meant that its altitude could be lowered to 235 km in 2012.
An electric ion thruster at the back of the satellite continuously generated tiny forces to compensate for any drag that GOCE experienced along its orbit.
The need to fly low and be ultra-stable led to a novel satellite design that minimised air drag and torque and excludes mechanical disturbances. The result was a slim 5 metre-long satellite with a cross sectional area of about 1m2, weighing in at about 1050 kg. The satellite was symmetrical about its horizontal plane and had two winglets that provided additional aerodynamic stability.
You can see this places constraints on the satellite's shape: you can't have protruding solar panels, antennas etc. This means it's only done when really necessary; for most purposes it's much cheaper to go to a slightly higher orbit instead.
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
That's very cool and new to me.
– Organic Marble
15 hours ago
The solar panels are built into it as shown and an antenna follows the wings. The space craft is on a lean performing a turn the belly facing towards the camera.
– Muze
14 hours ago
add a comment |
The only satellite I know of that was shaped to have low drag was GOCE, which orbited at 250 km.
Since it was vital to ensure that the measurements taken are of true gravity and not influenced by any movement of the satellite, this unique five-metre long arrow-shaped satellite had none of the moving parts often seen in other spacecraft. The satellite, together with its instrumentation, actually forms a single composite gravity-measuring device.
The satellite orbited Earth as low as possible to observe the strongest possible gravity-field signal – hence GOCE was designed to skim the edge of Earth's atmosphere at a height of about 250 km. Low fuel consumption meant that its altitude could be lowered to 235 km in 2012.
An electric ion thruster at the back of the satellite continuously generated tiny forces to compensate for any drag that GOCE experienced along its orbit.
The need to fly low and be ultra-stable led to a novel satellite design that minimised air drag and torque and excludes mechanical disturbances. The result was a slim 5 metre-long satellite with a cross sectional area of about 1m2, weighing in at about 1050 kg. The satellite was symmetrical about its horizontal plane and had two winglets that provided additional aerodynamic stability.
You can see this places constraints on the satellite's shape: you can't have protruding solar panels, antennas etc. This means it's only done when really necessary; for most purposes it's much cheaper to go to a slightly higher orbit instead.
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
The only satellite I know of that was shaped to have low drag was GOCE, which orbited at 250 km.
Since it was vital to ensure that the measurements taken are of true gravity and not influenced by any movement of the satellite, this unique five-metre long arrow-shaped satellite had none of the moving parts often seen in other spacecraft. The satellite, together with its instrumentation, actually forms a single composite gravity-measuring device.
The satellite orbited Earth as low as possible to observe the strongest possible gravity-field signal – hence GOCE was designed to skim the edge of Earth's atmosphere at a height of about 250 km. Low fuel consumption meant that its altitude could be lowered to 235 km in 2012.
An electric ion thruster at the back of the satellite continuously generated tiny forces to compensate for any drag that GOCE experienced along its orbit.
The need to fly low and be ultra-stable led to a novel satellite design that minimised air drag and torque and excludes mechanical disturbances. The result was a slim 5 metre-long satellite with a cross sectional area of about 1m2, weighing in at about 1050 kg. The satellite was symmetrical about its horizontal plane and had two winglets that provided additional aerodynamic stability.
You can see this places constraints on the satellite's shape: you can't have protruding solar panels, antennas etc. This means it's only done when really necessary; for most purposes it's much cheaper to go to a slightly higher orbit instead.
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
answered 16 hours ago
Hobbes
86.1k2244390
86.1k2244390
That's very cool and new to me.
– Organic Marble
15 hours ago
The solar panels are built into it as shown and an antenna follows the wings. The space craft is on a lean performing a turn the belly facing towards the camera.
– Muze
14 hours ago
add a comment |
That's very cool and new to me.
– Organic Marble
15 hours ago
The solar panels are built into it as shown and an antenna follows the wings. The space craft is on a lean performing a turn the belly facing towards the camera.
– Muze
14 hours ago
That's very cool and new to me.
– Organic Marble
15 hours ago
That's very cool and new to me.
– Organic Marble
15 hours ago
The solar panels are built into it as shown and an antenna follows the wings. The space craft is on a lean performing a turn the belly facing towards the camera.
– Muze
14 hours ago
The solar panels are built into it as shown and an antenna follows the wings. The space craft is on a lean performing a turn the belly facing towards the camera.
– Muze
14 hours ago
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to Space Exploration Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fspace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f33198%2fwhat-is-the-most-aerodynamic-satellite%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
2
Aerodynamics at a pressure of about 1 bar and subsonic speeds may be very different to drag in a nearly perfect vacuum and at hypersonic orbital speed.
– Uwe
17 hours ago
1
@Uwe If you released 2 rubber balloons with a .2psi from the bow of the ISS one shaped as a strait noodle balloon and the other round how much would "nearly" effect each balloon?
– Muze
17 hours ago
At theses speed and pressure cross section is all that matter.
– Antzi
4 hours ago