Orbital analysis and instrument viewing considerations for the Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite

An orbital analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of orbit altitude and equatorial crossing time on meeting the scientific requirements for the various experiments on the Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite. Results show that a 705-km orbit is more advantageous than an 824-km orbit for EOS. The lower orbit has higher spatial resolution and provides global coverage in a shorter period of time with a reasonable scan angle than the 824-km orbit. Both late-morning and early-afternoon equatorial crossing times offer certain advantages depending on the specific EOS science objective. Multiple satellites with equatorial crossing times spaced throughout the day are required to study diurnal variations of clouds, winds, and radiative parameters.