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Circular orbital speed and period as a function of altitude for LEO

mu = 398600; % Earth’s gravitational parameter [km^3/s^2]

R_earth = 6378;        % Earth radius [km]

% Plot the speed and period of a satellite in circular LEO as a function
% of altitude
% Low Earth orbit(LEO)
h = 160:1:2000;          %[km]
v = (mu./(R_earth+h)).^0.5;         %[km/s]
T = 2*pi*(R_earth+h).^1.5/mu^0.5;    %[s]
T = T/60;                           %[min]
% Plots
figure(1);
hold on;grid on;
plot(h,v);
xlabel('Altitude [km]');
ylabel('Speed [km/s]');
title('Circular orbital speed as a function of altitude,LEO');
figure(2);
hold on;grid on;
plot(h,T);
xlabel('Altitude [km]');
ylabel('Period [min]');
title('Circular orbital period as a function of altitude,LEO');

Period_Speed_Altitude_01 Period_Speed_Altitude_02

 

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