An ellipse is a stretched-out circle. The elliptical orbits produced by gravity around the Sun have a special feature. The Sun is at one ‘focus’ of the ellipse. The two foci of ellipses are two points which have this property: the sum of the distances to these two points are the same for all the points on the ellipse.

The celestial bodies in space like the planets and satellites move in paths that obey the laws of motion. The planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun whereas satellites move in elliptical orbits around the planets.

A highly elliptical orbit (HEO) is an elliptic orbit with high eccentricity, usually referring to one around Earth. Examples of inclined HEO orbits include Molniya orbits, named after the Molniya Soviet communication satellites which used them, and Tundra orbits.

Highly elliptical orbits provide an alternative to geostationary ones, as they remain over their desired high-latitude regions for long periods of time at the apogee. Despite these advantages the Tundra orbit is used less often than a Molniya orbit in part due to the higher launch energy required.

USSR

Satellites headed for GEO first go to an elliptical orbit with an apogee about 37,015 km. Firing the rocket engines at apogee then makes the orbit round. Geosynchronous orbits are also called geostationary.

The elliptical orbit is often called the Highly Elliptical Orbit, HEO. As a result of this many satellites are placed in elliptical orbits, especially where certain attributes are required. For example it does not require the orbits to be equatorial like the geostationary orbit.

So if the speed is changing, the kinetic energy will also be changing. The elliptical trajectory of a satellite is shown below. The speed of this satellite is greatest at location A (when the satellite is closest to the earth) and least at location C (when the satellite is furthest from the earth).

Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) Satellites in HEO are suited for communications, satellite radio, remote sensing and other applications.

Types of orbit

• Geostationary orbit (GEO)
• Low Earth orbit (LEO)
• Medium Earth orbit (MEO)
• Polar orbit and Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO)
• Transfer orbits and geostationary transfer orbit (GTO)
• Lagrange points (L-points)

And Musk wants to add another 30,000 to that, coming to a total of 42,000 satellites circling Earth. All of these satellites will also be much closer, anywhere from 200 to 400 miles above the planet in low-Earth orbit.

1,300 Starlink satellites

As with most stargazing activities, your best chance to see Starlink is about 30 minutes before sunrise or 30 minutes after sunset. They should appear as a string of pearls moving across the night sky.

The “lights” in the sky were SpaceX Starlink satellites launched and placed into orbit to provide internet to underserved areas. The light is actually reflected light off of the small satellites just after sunset. The satellites are launched and deployed in batches of 60.

SpaceX launched a rocket bearing Starlink 25 — 60 internet satellites — on Tuesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They will join more than 1,300 Starlink satellites already in orbit. Viewers have described them as a train, or like a string of pearls.

How Much Does It Cost? Starlink currently costs $99 a month. You’ll also have to pay a one-time $499 fee for the Starlink satellite dish and Wi-Fi router, which the company will ship to your home.

100 megabits per second

How much does Starlink cost in Australia? Starlink plans will set you back $139 per month. You’ll also need to pay $709 in hardware fees, and $100 in shipping and handling. If you pre-order, you’ll need to put down a fully refundable deposit of $139.

“At the user level, Starlink Services will offer a 24-hour battery back-up option for user equipment that will provide the ability to make phone calls in the event of a power outage”, the filing continues, much like other VoIP providers.

One of the features Starlink promotes is more affordable satellite internet, however the current price of $100 a month isn’t cheaper. It costs more than all other satellite services available in my area.

How much will Starlink internet cost? Starlink customers will pay an upfront cost of $499 for their hardware kit, as well as $99 per month for their internet service.

5G has an advantage over Starlink in terms of reliable service, because it’s built on top of existing cellular infrastructure. For mmWave 5G you need more towers because the higher-frequency speed travels at much shorter distances.