I dont really think that its really all that bad. Since a satellite never really "revolves" around the earth, its kind of like the moon to earth, the satellites revolve around the earth at the same rate the Earth rotates, this one so happens to be pointing at a satellite directly upwards from its current Earth Based position.

Geosyncronous satalite are nothing new or special. Most people just don't have the luxury of one like the military does.

Also, most commercial satalites are positioned where a lot of dishes can be pointed toward them rather than being intented for one target.

Straight-up, is also the "stow" position for dishes.
It provides the least wind resistance, less stress on the hardware.
They will sit like this for days, if under testing or maintnenance also.

If it makes any difference, I know this from experience..My first technically related job, was at an installation that looked a bit like the one in your pic..



[edit on 15-7-2005 by spacedoubt]

I don't know anything about satellite dishes, but maybe they are aimed to follow the satellite? I remember going to some place in Canberra and they had alot of satellite dishes there and I think I read that they follow the satellites so they are always slowly moving.

It could also be that while it looks like the satellite is pointing straight up, it might really be at an 85 degree angle or something like that. Depending on where the photographer was, you might get the illusion of a slightly different angle than what the satellite is really pointing to.

Having said that, I also think that from the picture it appears to be pointing straight up. Both the geosynchronous satellite idea and the maintenance idea make sense to me. If possible, try to get a pic of this site taken at a different time. If the dish is still pointing straight up, it's probably facing a geosynchronous satellite. If it's tilted, it was probably under maintenance.

Keep in mind that a geostationary sat is only straight up if you are located on the equator (and many, many commercial sats are in a geostationary orbit).. Other locations still need to point at an angle to see them (only that angle never changes).

However, all dishes are pointed straight up when not in use, as the previous poster indicated it reduces drag from wind. It also keeps your potential adversary from being able to track the item which the dish is tracking. (This is also one of the main reasons why most military dishes are covered in radomes)

Here we go. It took a while but I found the same area with the dish facing a different direction.
It probaly doesn't help now, but here we go.

I had a really weird dream once many years ago. I was in the middle of a desert, it was very hot and the sun was shining. I walked for ages when I saw a mountain range in the distance. When I came closer I saw several buildings but only a couple of people, like a ghost town, and there were also several huge sattelite dishes that was pointing straight upwards.

[edit on 16-7-2005 by anorwegianguy1972]

my dads brother eugene oscar amundson was one of the men who helped design it. the purpose of the satillite is to listen into outer space, to probe the outer space. that satillite, and area is also a military installation. my dads brother is dead he died of cancer, i was left with some of his stuff. i was 6 or 7 when he died.

The larger satellite dishes you see pointing straight up are probably radio telesopes, and not satellite dishes.