Orbits "nearby" both gravity wells are unstable. Knowing that geostationary orbits are stable enough in the earth-moon system for commercial purposes, I think low earth orbit weather satellites would remain stable in a "small" change like Earth-Mercury. Someone with a lot more spare time on their hands will have to figure out at what point geostationary comsat orbits become unusably unstable. I have a gut feeling, not having run the numbers, that a Earth-Jupiter system might not even have stable low earth orbits for weather satellites, much less high orbit geosync for comsats.
If for example, Mars, eliminated stable enough comsat orbits, you could put transponders on the surface of Mars for Earth use. And vice versa, I guess.
I would imagine this would greatly complicate the design and operation of a usable space tether / elevator. With obvious exceptions like absolutely perfect tidal locking would mean its pretty easy to string a lightly tensioned rope from one planet to the other.
At some point I imagine even "launch loop" technology would get messed up gravitationally. Building a computer stabilized ultra small scale launch loop (like maybe 50 feet?) has always been an "in my infinite spare time" experiment idea. They're very stable under ideal conditions, the hard/fun part is all in the spinup/spindown and in perturbations and active oscillation dampening. You want a launch LOOP aka circle, not a launch LISSAJOUS.
There's more to life than just spacecraft, of course. But it is a kinda interesting topic.
If for example, Mars, eliminated stable enough comsat orbits, you could put transponders on the surface of Mars for Earth use. And vice versa, I guess.
I would imagine this would greatly complicate the design and operation of a usable space tether / elevator. With obvious exceptions like absolutely perfect tidal locking would mean its pretty easy to string a lightly tensioned rope from one planet to the other.
At some point I imagine even "launch loop" technology would get messed up gravitationally. Building a computer stabilized ultra small scale launch loop (like maybe 50 feet?) has always been an "in my infinite spare time" experiment idea. They're very stable under ideal conditions, the hard/fun part is all in the spinup/spindown and in perturbations and active oscillation dampening. You want a launch LOOP aka circle, not a launch LISSAJOUS.
There's more to life than just spacecraft, of course. But it is a kinda interesting topic.