I'd be interested to know what is involved in flying a satellite.
Sitting at a console, waiting for it break, usually.
DSP is in Geosynchronous orbit, and operates itself, for the most part. We did have to run occasional maintenance procedures (sensor switching, battery reconditioning etc.), perform manuevers to keep within our longitude box, and respond to anomalies.
I was a sensor specialist, so anytime anything was detected, I gave real-time assessment to the Mission Director, then ran detailed analysis of the raw data to pick out anything unusual. Looked at a number of plane crashes, for example.
Also reading that I came across HEO satellites, what is the purpose in the highly elliptical orbit? The only thing I could think of is it allows for a much closer apogee in the orbit for getting detailed images.
HEO has several advantages. For countries like Russia, which do not have spaceports close to the equator, it gives them an orbit where the satellite stays relatively stationary for ~18 hours of the day. It doesn't require a fuel-intensive "dogleg" to get to the GEO belt. This is sometimes called a "Molniya" orbit, after the series of Soviet commsats that used it.
Another advantage is the latitude of that near-stationary position. The satellite holds nine hours at a time at about 63 degrees latitude (with pretty-much fixed longitude), vs. the 0 degrees that geostationary demands. This shortens the communications links tremendously, for high-latitude countries like Russia, and you're operating at a much higher elevation angle. For satellites with more nefarious purposes, it gets them a MUCH better look at high latitude targets (coughMurmanskcough).
Thirdly, it can get you simultaneous access to the far side of the world while maintaining direct communications links to the US. If you park your satellite in Geo over the Indian Ocean, you need either a ground station in the Eastern Hemisphere or to arrange a space-to-space relay. With a satellite in HEO, dwelling at 63 degrees latitude, you can position the orbit to give you simultanous comm between your customer and your home base.
A less known advantage of HEO is the ability to set up a peek-a-boo orbit. You can set it up so it rises above the horizon of the bad guy's territory, stays above the horizon long enough to check out what's happening, then slinks down before they can complete their targeting. Great fun....
The perigee portion of a typical HEO isn't much use. It's usually going to be in the southern hemisphere, for one thing. It's also going to be travelling ~5,000+ MPH faster than a LEO satellite, so imagery is a problem (and while low, you're still quite a bit higher than the usual imagry satellites).
You're also going into and out of the Van Allen belts once or twice daily, and this can cause problems.
Ron Wanttaja
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