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[narakal]

So for this paper I am writing, I am trying to think of a way to get a communication satellite in the asteroid belt to be used as a middle man between earth, and outer solar system missions. However, I have no idea on how to find out the feasibility of getting something into orbit at those distances, and therefore, is coming to this forum to ask the question: Is it possible to get somethign to orbit in the asteroid belt region? Or would I be better off having it land on an asteroid?

[Girlinhat]

Well, anything can orbit at any distance if you match the speed, so yes it's possible.  Is it possible to get one into orbit where it would stay in-line with Earth?  Not really.  The orbital distance would require a different speed and you couldn't keep it on a matched orbit with Earth, it's going to go too slow and will take longer than 1 year to orbit.  This means that for much of the time, the satellite won't be a good communication bouncer as it'll probably be further way from your target than Earth is from the target!  So it's possible, but not really worth it, and with the technology we have right now we can pick up radio static from the edge of the universe, so aiming a radio or laser towards Saturn and getting signal wouldn't be an issue, the only real trouble would be the time delay on account of the extreme distances, causing a lag between sending signal and receiving signal.

Although you may look up Lagrange Points, they're a fascinating piece of orbital mechanics that sounds like something you might be interested in.

Also, landing on an asteroid is hellishly hard.  It's trying to park your car on a moving train, and any time you hit the gas or the wheel it takes 8 minutes to respond.  It's infinitely easier to simply put something in space, especially for orbital work - if you've managed to match an asteroid's speed and land on it, then by definition you've already matched its orbit, you don't need to piggyback, you're already at speed!

[10ebbor10]

Anyway what he said. Keplers third law is at work here.
An object at 4AU(astronomical units) from the sun would need 8 times longer to complete it's orbit around the sun.
Also, the only reason why you would want sattelites to communicate would be to communicate to things at the other side of the sun.

Btw, I think the com delay is quite a bit larger than 8 minutes when you're in the asteroid belt.

[thobal]

Anyway what he said. Keplers third law is at work here.
An object at 4AU(astronomical units) from the sun would need 8 times longer to complete it's orbit around the sun.
Also, the only reason why you would want sattelites to communicate would be to communicate to things at the other side of the sun.

Btw, I think the com delay is quite a bit larger than 8 minutes when you're in the asteroid belt.

24 minutes using your 4AU as a baseline. But that's only when one is at opposition.

[Il Palazzo]

Here is a bit about current NASA DAWN mission in the asteroid belt.

In the above case, the craft used its ion propulsion system to slowly add energy to its initial elliptic orbit, to match the target asteroid's orbital velocity. It's a bit more complicated, but massivelly more efficient way of getting there, than carrying a fuel tank to the belt for final insertion.

Keep in mind that you'd need a few such crafts in orbit to maintain communication relays throughout the year. Three is a minimum to ensure you're always getting at least some reduction in distance on the Earth-relay-target route.

Also, is there a reason why you want the craft to orbit in the asteroid belt and not anywhere else? At best it only takes away 3AU of distance between Earth and the target, and the solar system is much bigger than that.

As for the utility, I don't know. Maybe with larger(manned?) missions, to the farther reaches of the solar system would come the need to send larger packet of data at higher signal strenghts. You'd need to dig up something on any possible issues there are with long distance communication.

[10ebbor10]

Anyway what he said. Keplers third law is at work here.
An object at 4AU(astronomical units) from the sun would need 8 times longer to complete it's orbit around the sun.
Also, the only reason why you would want sattelites to communicate would be to communicate to things at the other side of the sun.

Btw, I think the com delay is quite a bit larger than 8 minutes when you're in the asteroid belt.

24 minutes using your 4AU as a baseline. But that's only when one is at opposition.

Is that lightspeed or radio communication? I heard something about mars missions have a 30 minute delay but I might be mistaken.

As for usefulness of the sattelite, it's only use would be to broadcast to the other side of the sun. A sattelite that remains in space will need to be shielded to avoid damage through solar flares( although I don't know if that still matters at the distance) and there's a small chance it gets hit by a micrometeroid. Any Communication should be handled from earth( Since you can just build a bigger receptor/ sender there)
Were are you outer solar missions going to anyway?

[Virex]

Anyway what he said. Keplers third law is at work here.
An object at 4AU(astronomical units) from the sun would need 8 times longer to complete it's orbit around the sun.
Also, the only reason why you would want sattelites to communicate would be to communicate to things at the other side of the sun.

Btw, I think the com delay is quite a bit larger than 8 minutes when you're in the asteroid belt.

24 minutes using your 4AU as a baseline. But that's only when one is at opposition.

What asteroid belt is he thinking off anyway? For an extra-solar mission, 4 A.U. aren't going to matter and we'd be better off putting it in the Kuiper belt or somewhere.

[Il Palazzo]

He said outer solar system, not extra-solar.

[Virex]

He said outer solar system, not extra-solar.

Then what are the communication satellites for? We're still able to communicate with the Voyager probes and they're just about leaving the solar system. The only reason we're not getting as much data from them is because they're running out of energy.

[mainiac]

You'd probably do a better job if you used the Interplanetary Transport Network to get to Jupiter and then used airbraking to maneuver into get into a high orbit around that.  It would probably reduce your fuel costs by a decent chunk.

[thobal]

Anyway what he said. Keplers third law is at work here.
An object at 4AU(astronomical units) from the sun would need 8 times longer to complete it's orbit around the sun.
Also, the only reason why you would want sattelites to communicate would be to communicate to things at the other side of the sun.

Btw, I think the com delay is quite a bit larger than 8 minutes when you're in the asteroid belt.

24 minutes using your 4AU as a baseline. But that's only when one is at opposition.

Is that lightspeed or radio communication? I heard something about mars missions have a 30 minute delay but I might be mistaken.

Sorry, but you sound extremely ignorant just asking that question.

[Criptfeind]

Remember, if someone deflects your question it is because they do not know the answer,

[thobal]

Was it lightspeed or radio? They are the same. They are the same, you unread fool.

Sorry for the harshness, I've been drinking.

[10ebbor10]

Anyway what he said. Keplers third law is at work here.
An object at 4AU(astronomical units) from the sun would need 8 times longer to complete it's orbit around the sun.
Also, the only reason why you would want sattelites to communicate would be to communicate to things at the other side of the sun.

Btw, I think the com delay is quite a bit larger than 8 minutes when you're in the asteroid belt.

24 minutes using your 4AU as a baseline. But that's only when one is at opposition.

Is that lightspeed or radio communication? I heard something about mars missions have a 30 minute delay but I might be mistaken.

Sorry, but you sound extremely ignorant just asking that question.

A Stupid question is stupid and deserves an idiot answer.

[mainiac]

God forbid that someone express ignorance!  They might be on the path to learning something!