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View Full Version : GOCE *Satelloid*!


blackshire
10-09-2012, 10:55 PM
Hello All,

(Let me begin by apologizing for "pre-empting" Sandman's posting about his Micro Maxx Pershing 1A--please look at it here: www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?p=152833#post152833 ). A 1950s-vintage spacecraft concept--the satelloid--has been brought to fruition as actual flying hardware by ESA (the European Space Agency). Having fins, ESA's satelloid would also make a unique scale model rocket (please see below). A satelloid is a drag-compensating, very close satellite that maintains its "artificial orbit" with the help of a very low-total impulse chemical rocket, or an ion thruster, or an electrostatic "ionospheric ramjet" which would be a sort of "air-breathing ion engine." Also:

Krafft Ehricke, one of the World War II German rocket scientists, who is perhaps best-known for his work on the Atlas and Centaur "balloon-tank" rocket vehicles at Convair, promoted the satelloid concept (see: http://books.google.com/books?id=9iUDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA72&lpg=RA1-PA72&dq=Republic+satelloid&source=bl&ots=oQWWcFNQOo&sig=jyXu7fXniCurKMRyLbL3bA25Wuc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=K950UJSZL8KZiQK6z4GIBA&ved=0CEsQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=Republic%20satelloid&f=false , http://books.google.com/books?id=wSUDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA246&lpg=PA246&dq=Popular+Science+satelloid&source=bl&ots=pa3P-vI51C&sig=89vPEy3UGq6-p-P7GqZXXFeMCxE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=W990UIORE4fMigKtp4CQBA&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Popular%20Science%20satelloid&f=false , www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5205.0 ,and www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=&source=hp&q=Kraft+Ehricke+satelloid&btnK=Google+Search&oq=Kraft+Ehricke+satelloid&gs_l=hp.12...72775.89038.1.92353.23.7.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.Ih_JnFd-SLE&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=e9ec23a46821cf54&biw=634&bih=302 ). He envisioned a delta-winged glider that, after being launched into its close orbit (just 80 - 90 miles high), would have used a tiny sustainer rocket engine that would have consumed only seven pounds of propellants per orbit, for a mileage of about 25,000 miles per gallon! Wingless satelloids (in essence, single-pass spy satellites) were also studied. In addition:

Since March 2009, the European Space Agency's GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Field_and_Steady-State_Ocean_Circulation_Explorer and www.esa.int/SPECIALS/GOCE/index.html ) has been orbiting through the ionosphere at an altitude of just 170 miles (270 km) on a path inclined at 96.70° to the equator. Its close orbit allows it to make high-precision measurements of variations in the Earth's gravitational field as well as fine sea surface height measurements. Unlike satellites, the GOCE satelloid has aerodynamic fins, which are also the craft's solar panels. The solar panels power an ion thruster, which compensates for the atmospheric drag on the vehicle.

I hope this material will be helpful.