1. About
  2. Earth
    1. ISS
    2. Aqua
    3. GOES-14
    4. JWST
  3. Moon
    1. LADEE
    2. NRHO
  4. Mercury
    1. MESSENGER
  5. Venus
    1. Venus Express
  6. Mars
    1. MRO
    2. MAVEN
  7. Interplanetary
    1. MAVEN transfer

GOES-14

Geostationary orbit (GEO)

Files

Click here to download the trajectory.
Click here to download the run options file.

Description

GOES-14 is part of NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system, a group of satellites that orbit the Earth in geostationary orbit (GEO).  Spacecraft in GEO orbit the Earth once per (sidereal) day and thus maintain the same geographic longitude.  This type of orbit is used for one-way communications and weather satellites or to augment navigation systems.

GEO satellites are distant enough that they benefit from very little meteoroid shielding from the Earth.  Their orbital speed (3.07 km s–⁠1) is also relatively low compared to typical meteoroid speeds.  As a result, the meteoroid environment encountered by GEO satellites will be fairly stable over time.  The largest variations will be those encountered by spacecraft surfaces that maintain a constant orientation relative to the spacecraft’s motion around the Earth.  As these surfaces sweep through different angles and face different meteoroid populations, the incident flux will change accordingly.

Graphics

Trajectory in inertial frame

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Trajectory in Sun-centered ecliptic frame

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Meteoroid flux and properties

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Meteoroid directionality in body-fixed frame

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