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The recent business with the Astra 5A going all screwy and possibly threatening two other satellites got me to thinking. Since GEO is becoming increasingly crowded (yes, I know it has a circumference of 226,194Km) would it be possible to put satellites in some sort of near-GEO orbit with the same usefulness?
Consider this scenario, a private spaceflight company wants to put its own TDRS-like satellites into GEO but doesn't want to try to wedge them into a spot that someone else could need. Could they perhaps use a slightly inclined (<= 0.5 degrees) slightly eccentric orbit with the PeA and ApA a few kilometers below and above respectively GEO with the PeA and ApA lying on the descending and ascending nodes to avoid any chance of collision? I don't right off hand know how much a satellite would drift given that orbit so I don't know if it'd be useful for anything that required constant communication.
Consider this scenario, a private spaceflight company wants to put its own TDRS-like satellites into GEO but doesn't want to try to wedge them into a spot that someone else could need. Could they perhaps use a slightly inclined (<= 0.5 degrees) slightly eccentric orbit with the PeA and ApA a few kilometers below and above respectively GEO with the PeA and ApA lying on the descending and ascending nodes to avoid any chance of collision? I don't right off hand know how much a satellite would drift given that orbit so I don't know if it'd be useful for anything that required constant communication.