ATMOSPHERIC DENSITY DETERMINATION VIA NUMERICAL INTEGRATION AND DIFFERENTIAL ORBIT CORRECTION.
Abstract
Atmospheric density determination may be carried out by a careful reduction of satellite observations over long periods of time. The particular approach being reported upon consists of a numerical integration procedure combined with a differential correction scheme where discrepancies between computed and observed satellite position and velocity are reconciled by adjusting the assumed atmospheric model, thereby yielding corrected or refined density data. An important advantage of this technique is its applicability to satellites entering the decay stage where the effects of atmospheric drag are considerable and where a relatively short time span of observations may be available. This report describes a computer program which is capable of computing atmospheric densities. Emphasis is placed on the actual use of the program, with a complete user's manual being included. Preliminary numerical results obtained from the program are presented and limitations of the method are discussed. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0634785
Entities
People
- Arnold S. Bramson
Organizations
- International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)