Yes, if it's an earth orbit, altitude makes sense, if it's a generic
one, radius is better and less ambiguous.
On 2016-05-23 11:22, Nathan Bergey wrote:
I've also usually seen altitude rather then center. I think that's
because you care about the satellite in comparison to *you* (for
calculating link budgets for radios, etc.) rather than to the center
of the Earth.
The center of Earth is more correct for describing an orbit
mathematically, but then we usually use Keplarian elements for that.
On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 12:16 PM, Hop David <hopd@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
To describe an ellipse I have often used radius of periapsis and radius of
apoapsis.
For example, the transfer orbit from LEO to GEO I would describe as a (6678
km x 42164 km) ellipse.
But looking around it seems more often altitude is used instead of distance
from center. Should I be calling this a (300 km x 35786 km) ellipse?
Hop