A method for accurately determining the orbits of near-equatorial, near-synchronous satellites is presented. The basic approach is to supplement the conventional spherical harmonics representation of the terrestrial gravity field with a forcing function having components represented by plynomial expansions about nominal value of vehicular sub-latitude, sub-longitude, and separation from the geocenter. Numerical results are presented for a variety of near-equatorial, near-synchronous orbits. (Author)
A Polynomial Force Model Representation for Determining Near-Equatorial, Near-Synchronous Satellite Orbits
1968
16 pages
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English