The Lageos measurement satellites

Two passive satellites are used for laser geodesy. These are 60 centimeter, 400 kilogram solid metal spheres covered with retroreflectors, used for precisely measuring the geometry of the Earth's surface and the Earth's gravitational field.

m288 is 1200km above LAGEOS 1. Server sky orbits should stay above LAGEOS!

These satellites are interesting because their orbits are very precisely defined, and we can use them to verify both our orbital math and learn about drag at those extreme altitudes.

LAGEOS 1

LAGEOS 2

- nyo

NORAD ID

8820

22195

Int'l Code

1976-039A

1992-070B

Perigee

5,845.9 km

5,622.3 km

Apogee

5,954.4 km

5,959.4 km

Inclination

109.8°

52.6°

Period

225.5 min

222.5 min

Semi major axis

12,271.2 km

12,161.9 km

Launch date

May 4, 1976

October 22, 1992

Source

United States

Italy

- JPL

mass

411kg

405kg

diameter

0.6m

0.6m

eccentricity

0.0045

- NSSDC

periapsis

5837.0 km

5900.0 km

apoapsis

5946.0 km

5900.0 km

period

225.41000366210938 min

225.0 min

Inclination

109.80000305175781°

54.0°

eccentricity

0.00443999981507659

0.009999999776482582

- springerlink

decay

1.1mm/day 1.5V

- Innovateus

mass

406.965

405.38

spin

0.61s

0.906s

LAGEOS1 TLE:

LAGEOS2 TLE:

References: