NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: (OFF-TOPIC) Flight 370
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2014 Mar 26, 12:46 -0400
From: Don Seltzer
Date: 2014 Mar 26, 12:46 -0400
On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 11:32 AM, Frank Reed <FrankReed@historicalatlas.com> wrote:
Yes. But, possibly (given the very small amount of information available) a key factor here is that the Doppler shifts would have been significantly different north to south because of the satellite's relative speed. A north-south speed of 100-175mph for the satellite (and changing during the long flight) is a substantial difference.
-FER
I am having some difficulty in explaining my objection, because it depends upon vector math skills that have long fallen into disuse for me. Let me try this example:
Suppose there is an observer directly below the Inmarsat satellite, at about 64°E, 0°. The satellite is 22,236 miles away at this moment, but moving 'north' at 100 mph. An hour later, how much has the distance from the observer to the satellite changed? I calculate less than 1/4 mile in that hour.
Don Seltzer
