Geostationary Satellite around Earth Model
Geostationary Satellite around Earth Model

This Geostationary Satellite around Earth Model is a simple angular velocity model that uses the Java3D implementation for realistic visualization of satellite objects in geostationary orbits at three different locations namely (near Singapore, near Africa and America in model 1,2,3).
Students can explore the meaning of geostationary orbits, cases of non-geostationary orbits( mode 4,5,6) and even non-gravity physics orbit  (mode 7).

Geostationary Satellites
The term Geo-stationary implies a satellite fixed about a position above the earth. This is possible because such satellites have the same period as the Earth’s rotation
1 (T = 24 hours)
2 same rotational sense as the earth's rotation spin
3 is directly above the equator in other words the plane of rotation of the satellite must be in the plane of the Equator
Therefore, it appears stationary.

Application
Example of geostationary satellites are GMS1, GEOS, METEOSAT etc. Most of these satellites are used for commercial and military purposes

Main Simulation View
The simulation has a Earth and a Satellite object

Menu Drop Down
Allows for selecting what motion of Satellite is simulated.
  1. Geostationary near sg
  2. Geostationary near Africa
  3. Geostationary near America
  4. Non-geostationary due to direction
  5. circular motion r=3*Re, T =7.30 hr
  6. circular motion r=10.5*Re, T = 48 hr
  7. Non-Geostationary generally
  8. Unlikely Orbits

Checkboxes
show: equator Plane, for visualizing the Earth's rotating equator plane
Geo stationary, for visualizing a geostationary object (RED) for comparative observation with the other modes.
Show text: 35 700 km fixed position of object relative to planet eart.
Axes earth: show spin axes of the rotation of earth in GREEN
Axes satellite: show spin axes of the rotation of satellite in MAGENTA
Force: pair of action reaction force of equal magnitude, opposite direction and on different bodies. (Newton's 3rd Law)


Buttons
Play
Step Forward
Reset
have their usual meaning.



 
Credits:
The Geostationary Satellite around Earth Model was created by created by lookang (based on a earlier model Francisco Esquembre http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ntnujava/index.php?topic=1830.0) by using the Easy Java Simulations (EJS) version 4.3.6 authoring and modeling tool. An applet version of this model is available on the NTNU website . Shout our thanks to the Ejs community namely, Francisco Esquembre , Fu-Kwun Hwang and Wolfgang Christian for their professional learning community support. You can examine and modify this compiled EJS model if you run the model (double click on the model's jar file), right-click within a plot, and select "Open EJS Model" from the pop-up menu. You must, of course, have EJS installed on your computer. Information about EJS is available at: http://www.um.es/fem/Ejs/ and in the OSP comPADRE collection http://www.compadre.org/OSP/.