Question about satelites

Just a minute... And why are we assuming that the "Rakurai" main control center (not just the Shueller control panel) is really under the Temple?

Why place something so important as the main node of remaining Archangel's activity under the most probable target? After Kau-yung little joke, they couldn't be sure, that there is no other unaccounted nuclear devices on the Safehold, that some hidden Fallen may use - or may left the instruction to use for some decendants, who would be completely unaware that "sacred treasure, that they need to bring to the Holy Temple, where in belong", actually is a nuclear charge.

Generalkym it would be nuch more effective to hide the main center AVAY from Temple - in some hidden bunker. Or even a complex of bunkers, that have much more chances to survive centuries.

So, the preoblem is that we tended to assume that "something is under the Temple and only under the Temple", but it didn't proved yet.

McGuiness wrote:The textev talks about the Rakurai sweeping silently in its deadly orbit around the planet, so it isn't located at the Lagrange points, and given Federation tech, it isn't in a geosynchronous orbit either.

I'm not sure how you reach that conclusion. Both Lagrange points and geosynchronous orbit would qualify as "deadly orbit around the planet." Granted, a low orbit is usually the best placement for KEW weapons, but we don't have any text saying how high the orbit is.

RFC gave us a pretty good description a while back, but to summarize IIRC, it's a globe of many, many satellites, which include scanners and defensive weapons. It's located in a lower orbit that than many readers think, and it covers the entire planet with its scanners, whatever type they happen to be, and its orbit most likely circles the planet in less than a day. It also has six loaded KEW (Kinetic Energy Weapon) cells, and RFC has noted that he never said they couldn't be reloaded.

Agreed on the last point, that he never said the KEW couldn't be reloaded. But he did not say that it was a globe of many many satellites. He did not say what kind of orbit they were in, or how many satellites were involved, except that the weapons could be targeted on any part of the globe in less than a day.

SWM wrote:

McGuiness wrote:The textev talks about the Rakurai sweeping silently in its deadly orbit around the planet, so it isn't located at the Lagrange points, and given Federation tech, it isn't in a geosynchronous orbit either.

I'm not sure how you reach that conclusion. Both Lagrange points and geosynchronous orbit would qualify as "deadly orbit around the planet." Granted, a low orbit is usually the best placement for KEW weapons, but we don't have any text saying how high the orbit is.

RFC gave us a pretty good description a while back, but to summarize IIRC, it's a globe of many, many satellites, which include scanners and defensive weapons. It's located in a lower orbit that than many readers think, and it covers the entire planet with its scanners, whatever type they happen to be, and its orbit most likely circles the planet in less than a day. It also has six loaded KEW (Kinetic Energy Weapon) cells, and RFC has noted that he never said they couldn't be reloaded.

Agreed on the last point, that he never said the KEW couldn't be reloaded. But he did not say that it was a globe of many many satellites. He did not say what kind of orbit they were in, or how many satellites were involved, except that the weapons could be targeted on any part of the globe in less than a day.

A high orbit makes better sense than a low orbit for one reason - aerodynamic drag. Low orbit satellites (below 1000km experience significant drag and need to use engine thrust to avoid loss of orbital speed. If you assume you want to stay in orbit (and hide) then you want to stay well out of the atmosphere and not use engines. So staying high minimizes engine burns (and eight centuries on that's significant).
If you want to cover the entire planet a retrograde and/or steep polar orbit will be superior to a more normal west to east orbit (commonly used on earth because you get the surface speed of the planet for free).
To maintain continuous grounds station communications however you need a minimum of three link stations, either 3 ground stations or the OBS and two relays.

If the Rakurai is located beyond the magnetic fields of Safehold would there not be at least some degradation of the control AI due to various radiations and other particles both solar and exosolar over eight hundred years. It seems to me that I've heard that the smaller that electronic components become the more sentive they become to stray particles.

It's an assumption.

However, IMO it is a reasonable assumption.

The Temple was likely the HQ of the remaining Archangels which likely why it was built with high tech armor.

The problem with a "Top Secret" alternate location is that the remaining Archangels would want the main control center closely under their control and might not trust one of their own to man the control center without close supervision.

Imagine the "fun" if one of the remaining Archangels wanted to be the only Archangel on Safehold and used the control center to wipe the others.

So if the control center was elsewhere there would likely be traffic between it and the Temple that any remaining "rogue" Angels could track.

Imagine the "fun" if "rogue" Angels captured the remote control center and used it against the Temple.

As for somebody attempting a replay of Kau-yung little joke, it is very likely that the remaining Archangels had set up a security system for the Temple to prevent just that.

Even if the main control center was elsewhere, the remaining Archangels would want to protect the Temple from such a little joke.

Of course, David Weber has fooled me before and likely will fool me again.

Dilandu wrote:Just a minute... And why are we assuming that the "Rakurai" main control center (not just the Shueller control panel) is really under the Temple?

Why place something so important as the main node of remaining Archangel's activity under the most probable target? After Kau-yung little joke, they couldn't be sure, that there is no other unaccounted nuclear devices on the Safehold, that some hidden Fallen may use - or may left the instruction to use for some decendants, who would be completely unaware that "sacred treasure, that they need to bring to the Holy Temple, where in belong", actually is a nuclear charge.

Generalkym it would be nuch more effective to hide the main center AVAY from Temple - in some hidden bunker. Or even a complex of bunkers, that have much more chances to survive centuries.

So, the preoblem is that we tended to assume that "something is under the Temple and only under the Temple", but it didn't proved yet.

DrakBibliophile wrote:It's an assumption.

However, IMO it is a reasonable assumption.

The Temple was likely the HQ of the remaining Archangels which likely why it was built with high tech armor.

The problem with a "Top Secret" alternate location is that the remaining Archangels would want the main control center closely under their control and might not trust one of their own to man the control center without close supervision.

Imagine the "fun" if one of the remaining Archangels wanted to be the only Archangel on Safehold and used the control center to wipe the others.

So if the control center was elsewhere there would likely be traffic between it and the Temple that any remaining "rogue" Angels could track.

Imagine the "fun" if "rogue" Angels captured the remote control center and used it against the Temple.

As for somebody attempting a replay of Kau-yung little joke, it is very likely that the remaining Archangels had set up a security system for the Temple to prevent just that.

Even if the main control center was elsewhere, the remaining Archangels would want to protect the Temple from such a little joke.

Of course, David Weber has fooled me before and likely will fool me again.

Dilandu wrote:Just a minute... And why are we assuming that the "Rakurai" main control center (not just the Shueller control panel) is really under the Temple?

Why place something so important as the main node of remaining Archangel's activity under the most probable target? After Kau-yung little joke, they couldn't be sure, that there is no other unaccounted nuclear devices on the Safehold, that some hidden Fallen may use - or may left the instruction to use for some decendants, who would be completely unaware that "sacred treasure, that they need to bring to the Holy Temple, where in belong", actually is a nuclear charge.

Generalkym it would be nuch more effective to hide the main center AVAY from Temple - in some hidden bunker. Or even a complex of bunkers, that have much more chances to survive centuries.

So, the preoblem is that we tended to assume that "something is under the Temple and only under the Temple", but it didn't proved yet.

I think that the only real alternative to the temple is off the planet altogether. A few months ago there was speculation that Langhorne's flagship is still out there and that it had the control center. Dunno. I tend to think it is under the temple myself.

Don