Effects of Geopotential and Atmospheric Drag Effects on Frozen Orbits Using Nonsingular Variables

The concept of frozen orbit has been applied in space missions mainly for orbital tracking and control purposes. This type of orbit is important for orbit design because it is characterized by keeping the argument of perigee and eccentricity constant on average, so that, for a given latitude, the sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paula Cristiane Pinto Mesquita Pardal, Rodolpho Vilhena de Moraes, Helio Koiti Kuga
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2014-01-01
Series:Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/678015
Description
Summary:The concept of frozen orbit has been applied in space missions mainly for orbital tracking and control purposes. This type of orbit is important for orbit design because it is characterized by keeping the argument of perigee and eccentricity constant on average, so that, for a given latitude, the satellite always passes at the same altitude, benefiting the users through this regularity. Here, the system of nonlinear differential equations describing the motion is studied, and the effects of geopotential and atmospheric drag perturbations on frozen orbits are taken into account. Explicit analytical expressions for secular and long period perturbations terms are obtained for the eccentricity and the argument of perigee. The classical equations of Brouwer and Brouwer and Hori theories are used. Nonsingular variables approach is used, which allows obtaining more precise previsions for CBERS (China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite) satellites family and similar satellites (SPOT, Landsat, ERS, and IRS) orbital evolution.
ISSN:1024-123X
1563-5147