The Motion of an Artificial Satellite in a Nonspherical Gravitational Field and an Atmosphere with a Quadratic Scale Height.
Abstract
The report presents the development of a solution for satellite orbits in a nonrotating atmosphere and takes into account the second through fourth zonal harmonics of the gravitational potential. It is basically an extension of Lane's work in that his power-law representation of the atmospheric density function, which implies a linear density scale height, is replaced by a density function with a quadratic density scale height. The quadratic scale height is shown to provide a substantially better fit to the atmospheric density. To integrate the equations of motion analytically, it is necessary to expand the density function in a series. Limitations which appear in the Lane and the Brouwer and Hori theories for small eccentricities, low inclinations, and critical inclinations still exist. (Modified author abstract)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1974
- Accession Number
- AD0776244
Entities
People
- R. E. Willey
- V. L. Pisacane
Organizations
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory