MINIMUM SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS FOR REDUNDANT EARTH COVERAGE

IT IS PROPOSED THAT STA CONDUCT ADVANCED RESEARCH ON A CLASS OF SLIGHTLY TO MODERATELY ELLIPTIC HIGH ALTITUDE SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS WHICH EXHIBIT EARTH COVERAGE STATISTICS SUPERIOR TO CONVENTIONAL CONSTELLATIONS WHICH EMPLOY MAINLY GEOSTATIONARY OR GEOSYNCHRONOUS, CIRCULAR ORBIT SATELLITES. THIS CLASS OF CONSTELLATION HAS ALREADY BEEN SHOWN BY THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR TO BE CAPABLE OF PROVIDING CONTINUOUS SINGLE HEMISPHERIC, SINGLE GLOBAL, AND DOUBLE GLOBAL EARTH COVERAGE WITH THREE, FOUR, AND SIX SATELLITE ARRAYS RESPECTIVELY. EACH ARRAY REPRESENTS A DECREASE IN NUMBERS OF SATELLITES REQUIRED OVER ANY PREVIOUSLY KNOWN ARRAYS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT WOULD EXTEND EARLIER WORK INTO THE AREA OF TRIPLE AND QUADRUPLE COVERAGE WITH THE MINIMUM NUMBERS OF SATELLITES. THE OUTPUT OF THIS EFFORT WILL BE AS FOLLOWS: A) A DESCRIPTION OF THE DESIGN METHODOLOGY AND TECHNIQUES USED BY THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR. B) STATEMENTS OF THEOREMS AND COROLLARIES DEVELOPED FOR REDUNDANT CONTINUOUS COVERAGE ARRAYS. C) EPHEMERIDES, OR ORBITAL PARAMETERS, FOR OPTIMAL ARRAY CONFIGURATIONS, IN TABULAR FORM. D) LIMITING VALUES ON INPUT ORBITAL PARAMETERS. THIS WILL CONSIST OF CONTOURS OR LIMIT LINES OUTSIDE WHICH THE COVERAGE CRITERIA CANNOT BE MET.