CLS made an exhaustive research of new orbit candidates, looking to the best options to address MAG specifications. As it was not possible to find a single orbit possessing all these specifications, three new orbit solutions were found (CLS1 ; CLS2 ; CLS3 in the tables below). These three orbits have different characteristics, and are promising trade-off that conform to most of the MAG requirements.
In the end, 8 orbit candidates were analysed side by side by the Polar Monitoring team.
The table below displays all the sub-cycles that possess each orbit candidate (in number of days). All orbits except ICESat-2 have a ~yearly cycle indicated in the black cell.
The table below displays all the characteristics of the 8 orbit candidates:
