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Atmospheric gravitational influence on geodetic satellite orbits - Starlette analysisThe atmosphere is constantly in motion. The changing gravitational force due to the air mass movement will slightly perturb the orbit of a satellite. As the instrument accuracy for geodetic satellites improves, failure to model this perturbation can result in significant systematic errors in the orbit determination. The latter, in turn, will degrade the Earth's gravity solutions. A direct modeling technique to analyze the atmospheric gravitational influence on geodetic satellite is developed. We use the global surface pressure data from the ECMWF Initial Analysis Database to compute the gravitational force due to atmospheric perturbation exerted on given satellite as a function of time during selected orbital arcs. Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) tracking data for selected Starlette (altitude 900 km) orbital arcs are used to test the computed force model. Although only a slight reduction in the rms residuals is observed when the atmospheric gravitational perturbation is included in the force model for data reduction of the SLR data, significant improvement is obtained in the predictability of the satellite orbit. Comprehensive studies involving more definitive test criteria and more refined models are still needed.
Document ID
19930071961
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Chao, B. F.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Chan, Joseph C.
(ST Systems Corp. Lanham, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: In: From Mars to Greenland: Charting gravity with space and airborne instruments - Fields, tides, methods, results (A93-55951 24-46)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Subject Category
Astrodynamics
Accession Number
93A55958
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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