“and the orbit would be either lower or higher then the actual Clarke belt…tethers would be very helpful here”

Like I said. Non 0 eccentricy, 24 hour orbit. Tethers? Let’s talk again when you are sober.

“Oler’s absurd suggestion was a Chinese manned imaging platform, like Salyut 4, in GEO. We are not talking about traditional weather satellite. Post nothing if you cannot keep up.”

My apologies, the link was not about the manned part but about the imaging aspect. I should have been more clear.

China wants firsts just as anything nation does as a national prestige and pride issue. So what can China do first?

Goto LEO? no.
Goto the Moon? no.
Build a space station? no.
no no no no no

So many firsts have already been taken. When kennedy chose the moon it was for a reason, what can America do that:

A. the Soviet Union isn’t planning to do.
B. the Soviet Union is planning to do that we can beat them at.

For me It leaves basically a few options for the Chinese to do first, something at mars, something at an asteroid or something in GEO.

As GEO is the cheapest option for a manned first. I believe that will be their target for a first.

not so much

The Military has been flying IR detectors but they are missile warning. The game change technology is 1 meter resolution at any time …as for

“. A slightly eccentric synchronous orbit with 0 inclination would get the effect you are talking about”

nope. It wont be 0 inclination it would be about 10 or so degrees and that can be worked out with the day night cycle when one has to move to different wavelengths with varying accuracies….and the orbit would be either lower or higher then the actual Clarke belt…tethers would be very helpful here.

it wont even be crewed all the time…man tended.

there is a reason the Webb telescope is being built!

Robert G. Oler

bet you money that “our” next or two steps away effort is optical and IR 1 meter capabilities in near GEO (probably with large inclines to drift back and forth).

“the ability to see anything at anytime more then compensates for the lack of sun synchronous clarity. It is a game changer.”

The Air Force has been flying IR detectors at that altitude for decades (DSP). That is a far cry from 1 m resolution manned platform. “Game changer” seems to be the new tag line for programs without deliverables or deadlines. Sorry to inform you that higher GEO inclinations lead to a figure 8 ground track that would hurt visibility as often as it would help. A slightly eccentric synchronous orbit with 0 inclination would get the effect you are talking about. My guess is such orbits would be unpopular with other operators in GEO.

Vladislaw wrote:

“I believe GEO will be the goal also, here is an interesting white paper of LEO versus GEO.”

Oler’s absurd suggestion was a Chinese manned imaging platform, like Salyut 4, in GEO. We are not talking about traditional weather satellite. Post nothing if you cannot keep up.

It is the GEO-Africa plan.

http://www.earthobservations.org/documents/geo_africa/GEO-Africa-WhitePaper-Draft1-17Feb2010_1.PDF

nope

bet you money that “our” next or two steps away effort is optical and IR 1 meter capabilities in near GEO (probably with large inclines to drift back and forth).

the ability to see anything at anytime more then compensates for the lack of sun synchronous clarity. It is a game changer.

Robert G. Oler