When to inject from LEO to GEO choices.

• Inject from the top end of the lines of nodes. Reach GEO orbit and then phase-wait in that orbit to rendezvous with the target.

• loop-wait in the LEO orbit until the correct lead angle β with the target is reached. Calculate this for when the spacecraft is on the top end of the lines of nodes. (must be at either end of the lines of nodes to inject to GEO)

• The same as above, but for the case when the spacecraft is on the bottom end of the lines of nodes.

• loop-wait in the LEO orbit until the lead angle is closest to β the first time this happens before the first full GEO orbit is made by the 1st satellite. This is a trade-off between choice 1 and 2,3. Calculations showed option 4 above to be the best in terms of ΔV and time considerations. Probe does a full 6 orbits in LEO before injecting to GEO. This resulted is smallest ΔV to apply when in GEO to phase-wait for 1st satellite.

Notes: