Writing.Com General Discussion

I originally wanted a geostationary (aerostationary) orbit, but changed it to one with a shorter period, making communication periodic as a result.

A one hour window for comms is quite long, because due to the close proximity, comms are more or less instantaneous and can be high bandwidth. Having that comms window open every six hours or so, and with the regularity (exactly one quarter of a Martian day), makes comms actually very stable.

Of course the five hour gap between one window and the next allows room for things to happen the crew in the ship won't know about (until maybe later), but it's not as if they can actually do anything to help anyway.

The decision to use a more stable orbit is technically a good one, since any space agency would go for the logistically easier option anyway, and it offers me the opportunity to have things happen the ship crew know nothing about until later (if at all). Since the ground crew won't actually want to talk continuously, using an orbit that places the ship permanently above them isn't actually required.

What I am striving for in the novel is realism, and frankly, an aerostationary orbit doesn't fall into that category. In the story, I don't explain why they move to the orbit they do, but I imagine anyone who knows anything about Martian orbits would nod and say "good job the author didn't go for a geosynchronous orbit."