EFFECT OF THE DIURNAL ATMOSPHERIC BULGE ON SATELLITE ACCELERATIONS

Abstract

Formulas are developed to express the secular acceleration of a satellite on passing through an atmosphere which bulges in the sunward direction and in which the scale height increases with height, these two properties of the high atmosphere having previously been establis ed from satellite observations. Comparison of the new formulas with those for a spherically symmetric atmosphere of constant scale height indicates that deduced atmospheric densities may be systematically incorrect by up to 50 or 60% at heights of 500 to 600 km when the simpler equations are used. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 29, 1961
Accession Number
AD0261490

Entities

People

  • Stanley P. Wyatt

Organizations

  • Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Satellites
  • Atmospheres
  • Atmospheric Density
  • Equations
  • Observation
  • Physical Properties

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Space/Atmospheric Physics.
  • Structural Dynamics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Orbital Debris