Then I would go with a pflow system editable and governable without scripting. Sure you could write a script for this but I think it would be like killing roaches at your feet with a bazooka effective but painful.

I’ve got a Pflow system working with SpeedBySurface but there are two problems ...... 1. adjusting speed sends the particles away from the surface so I can’t have speed varying much between objects .....  and 2. I can’t point orbiting objects to the centre of the target sphere without using SpeedSpaceFollow and that gives jerky movement as the object moves from poly to poly (of the target object). I asked at the Orbaz forums and Oleg said it can be done with either a Script operator or a Data Operator from Box#3 with a ‘more complex calculation’ to keep the objects pointing to the centre.

It’s times like this I wonder why something so simple can’t be done out of the box. I’m not averse to scripting, but often I just don’t have time to do it.
Mark

This is a variation on Calrl’s keep it simple method.
Create your planet. Create one satalite and offset it, move it’s pivot point to the planet’s centre. Animate the rotation. Shift Rotate and make the number of copies. Then rotate all the copies randomly. to offset them from each other.

Thanks. In the end I scripted it. File attached. Anyone feel free to use it. Works fine here on max9. No guarantees though.

-- create however many objects you want as satellites and name them satRef*
-- set total number of orbits/satellites with geoCount
-- twiddle with the other values to vary or restrict orbits, orbit diameter, satellite speed etc

Mark

Here’s another one, using the pivot at the planet centre and Pflow.
Create your planet and one satalite, move the pivot to the planet centre as before.
Create a Pflow with Position Object set to the planet, set location to pivot. set speed to 0. Add a Spin set to Random 3D. Add Shape instance and set it to use the satalite. set Display to Geometry to see the effect.
Or just download this file.

Nice one Samab. Thanks.