Quote:
Any reason why they can't just place them further out, thus meaning we can point higher up at every location?
Yes, there is a reason they can't do that.
Physics time.
You know the old story about Galileo dropping things off the leaning tower of Pisa? Goes like this. Everyone assumes that heavier things fall faster than lighter things. But Galileo says nuh-uh, everything falls at the same speed regardless of weight. The only thing affecting the speed of something's fall is air resistance.
So he gets spheres, that are the same size but one is hollow so it's much lighter. Drops them off the leaning tower. They hit the ground at the same time. *gasp* he's right, yada yada.
Well, how this applies to satellites is:
All a satellite is doing is falling at the earth and missing. And missing at a very exact angle and speed so that they stay in that perfect orbit and it never changes. No matter what the weight or size of the satellite, the orbital mechanics are the same because they fall at the same speed based on the earth's gravity, which is a constant.
If they were higher up, they would have to be going slower in order to maintain the orbit. If they were lower down, they would have to be going faster in order to maintain the orbit.
And there are satellites which do go faster and slower, and are at different altitudes, sure. But... and here's the trick... those satellites are not geostationary. They are spy satellites or mapping satellites or GPS satellites or just about anything other than TV satellites. They are criscrossing all over the sky, constantly moving.
Whereas the geostationary satellites seem to sit in a neat little ring exactly above the equator, not moving.
And that's the trick, in order for them to appear to "not move", they have to be at that exact altitude. If they were lower, or higher, they would move in relation to the ground.
See?
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