Geometric Aspects of Solar Disruptions in Satellite Communication

Radio broadcasts and telemetry from geostationary satellites are periodically disrupted by the sun when the lines of sight of the sun and satellite become nearly coincident as observed from a particular ground station sometime before the vernal equinox and following the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere. Non-geostationary satellites may experience a similar problem at less frequent and less periodic intervals but the problems of predicting these events require more sophisticated methodologies in execution. The general problems of predicting the time of solar outage for both the geostationary and the inclined, elliptical satellite are discussed and particular scenarios for each of these cases is cited.