Don't forget CRYOSAT as well, which is launching before GOCE using the same Eurokot launcher, although at a higher altitude (GOCE has such a low orbit, it is actually aerodynamically shaped, whereas CRYOSAT just looks like a dog kennel).
There are many uses for polar orbits as there are many earth observation satellites, of which a fair amount are for scientific purposes. Even some meteorological satellites now are LEOs.
It's a shame that Apple still hasn't fixed the problem with large FAT filesystems. I'm still unable to connect my 30GB USB drive, whereas it works everywhere else.
Just to clarify a few points: the South American setellite hasn't been launched yet but the other two are both operational. The Asian satellite covers from India across to China and down to just above Australia. It can be received in Australia but you need a large dish to do so. Within the footprint the little patch antennas on the receivers are usually enough.
Music is encoded as MPEG 2.5 layer 3 at various bitrates between 32k and 128k depending on the content and required quality.
This sounds better than you'd expect as MPEG 2.5 layer 3 is more optimised to low bitrated than MPEG 1 layer 3. The XM radio stuff is in the same format I beleive. I think it was a spinoff of Worldspace a few years ago.
It's worth a listen to if you can get hold of a receiver. I quite like Bob, which is a free to air Worldspace branded channel. These are also streamed over the net but I'm not sure if you can get access outside of the company yet.
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The ESA Cryosat satellite is also being launched by a Russian ICBM but with a German extra stage on top, called Eurokot.
Don't forget CRYOSAT as well, which is launching before GOCE using the same Eurokot launcher, although at a higher altitude (GOCE has such a low orbit, it is actually aerodynamically shaped, whereas CRYOSAT just looks like a dog kennel).
There are many uses for polar orbits as there are many earth observation satellites, of which a fair amount are for scientific purposes. Even some meteorological satellites now are LEOs.
It's a shame that Apple still hasn't fixed the problem with large FAT filesystems. I'm still unable to connect my 30GB USB drive, whereas it works everywhere else.
Just to clarify a few points: the South American setellite hasn't been launched yet but the other two are both operational. The Asian satellite covers from India across to China and down to just above Australia. It can be received in Australia but you need a large dish to do so. Within the footprint the little patch antennas on the receivers are usually enough.
Music is encoded as MPEG 2.5 layer 3 at various bitrates between 32k and 128k depending on the content and required quality.
This sounds better than you'd expect as MPEG 2.5 layer 3 is more optimised to low bitrated than MPEG 1 layer 3. The XM radio stuff is in the same format I beleive. I think it was a spinoff of Worldspace a few years ago.
It's worth a listen to if you can get hold of a receiver. I quite like Bob, which is a free to air Worldspace branded channel. These are also streamed over the net but I'm not sure if you can get access outside of the company yet.