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Re:xAI joins SpaceX by WalterBright on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @12:05AM (#46866746)
> you'd have no solar power half the time

Polar orbit.

Re:xAI joins SpaceX by woooooo on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @12:28AM (#46866875)
Seasons mess that up unless you're burning fuel to make minor plane changes every day. Otherwise you have an equinox where your plane faces the sun (equivalent to an equatorial orbit) and a solstice where your plane is parallel to the sun (the ideal case).
Re:xAI joins SpaceX by oliv5900 on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @03:12AM (#46868055)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-synchronous_orbit A Sun Synchronous orbit at the Day-Night terminator solves this issue
Re:xAI joins SpaceX by WalterBright on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @01:47PM (#46875363)
I didn't think of that! I should have had a V8. Thanks for the info.
Re:xAI joins SpaceX by elihu on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @06:59PM (#46879282)
Huh, I didn't know that that was possible without burning fuel. Kind of wild that it only works because the Earth has an equatorial bulge and isn't an exact sphere.
Re:xAI joins SpaceX by WalterBright on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @02:39AM (#46867784)
True. It would a tradeoff with the fuel consumed vs doubling power output.
Re:xAI joins SpaceX by mr_toad on Tuesday February 03, 2026 @07:11PM (#46879421)
Satellites can spin! You also need to deal with precession and other minor chances in the orbit, but they’re all solved problems.