T. Abdollahi; A. Jahangirian; A. Naghash
Volume 1, Issue 1 , September 2008, , Pages 57-66
Abstract
In this paper, the effects of future solar activities, drag coefficient and atmospheric wind on altitude loss and life time of a LEO satellite is investigated. For this purpose, an orbit propagator is used whose results have been verified by STK software. To analyze the satellite position, the effect ...
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In this paper, the effects of future solar activities, drag coefficient and atmospheric wind on altitude loss and life time of a LEO satellite is investigated. For this purpose, an orbit propagator is used whose results have been verified by STK software. To analyze the satellite position, the effect of no spherical earth is also considered. In this investigation, simulation of the atmosphere, estimation of wind, and prediction of future solar activity have been implemented using MSIS-90, HWM-93, and 13-month Zurich smoothed models, respectively. Our investigation shows that the effect of future solar activity on satellite life time is a function of the predicted percentile. The effect of drag coefficient is almost linear while the effect of atmospheric wind is a function of inclination.