The Effect of Atmospheric Oblateness on a Satellite Orbit

By
D. G. King-Relet
(With 9 Figures)

Abstract - Zusammenfassung - Resume

The Effect of Atmospheric Oblateness on a Satellite Orbit. The most serious
perturbations to the orbit of an earth satellite are ustially those caused by air drag.
The simplest equations to specify the evolution of an orbit under the action of air
drag are given; then, after a survey of the upper atmosphere which indicates that
the atmO!iphere shares the ellipticity of the earth beneath it, the corresponding
equations for an oblate atmosphere are formulated. Finally, numerical results are
given which show that the effect of atmospheric oblateness can alter the spherical-
atmosphere results by up to 30% for some orbits, though for the majority of orbits
the effect is much smaller, and 5% would be a more representative figure.
Der EinfluB der atmospharischen Abplattung auf Satellitenbahnen. Die bekannteste
Bahnstorung wird durch den Luftwiderstand hervorgerufen. Stark vereinfachte
Gleichungen ftir die Bahn eines Satelliten unter Beriicksichtigung des Luftwider-
standes werden angegeben, wobei nachher auch die atmospharische Abplattung be-
riicksichtigt wird. SchlieBlich werden numerische Resultate angegeben, die zeigen,
daB der Effekt der atmospharischen Abplattung Anderungen der Bahn gegeniiber
der kugelsymmetrischen Atmosphare bis zu 30% bewirken kann. Allerdings ist fiir
den GroBteil der Bahnen der _Effekt viel kleiner und kann groBenordnungsmaBig
etwa mit 5% angenommen werden.
Effet de l'aplatissement de l'atmosphere sur les orbites des satellites. Les per-
turbations les plus serieuses du mouvement orbital ont ete celles causees par la
resistance de l'air, qui enleve au satellite un peu d'energie a chaque revolution, pour
eventuellement aneantir le mouvement orbital. Du fait que la resistance de l'air est
plus grande dans la section de l'orbite proche du perigee, son effet principal est de
retarder le satellite chaque fois qu'il passe au perigee, avec comme resultat que le
satellite neva pas etre lance aussi loin dans le cOte oppose de la terre, qu'a sa revolution
precedente. Des resultats numeriques sont fournis montrant comment la contraction
de l'orbite sous !'influence du frottement de l'air peut etre affectee par l'aplatissement
de !'atmosphere. Les resultats obtenus avec !'hypothese d'une atmosphere spherique
sont peu modifies par !'introduction de !'hypothese de son aplatissement; toutefois
des changements atteignant 30% peuvent survenir pour des orbites particulierement
sensibles a ce phenomene.

I. Introduction
For the majority of artificial satellites so far launched, the most serious
orbital perturbations have been those caused by air drag, which deprive the
satellite of a little energy on each revolution and eventually destroy its orbit
altogether. The effects of air drag are most important for satellites with perigee
1 Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, Rants, England.

P. A. Libby, Space Flight and Re-Entry Trajectories

© Springer Verlag -Wien 1962
 D. G. KrNG-HELE: The Effect of Atmospheric Oblateness on a Satellite Orbit 391

heights lower than 300 km, but still need to be taken into account for perigee
heights up to about 1,000 km; at heights above 1,000 km solar radiation pressure
is greater than air drag. The results given in this paper therefore apply primarily
to orbits with perigee heights of less than, say, 600 km; and the method is also
limited to orbital eccentricities less than 0.2. Most of the satellites so far launched
comply with these two conditions.
The other major perturbation to the orbit of a near satellite [1] is the effect
of the earth's oblateness, which causes the orbital plane of the satellite to rotate
about the earth's axis and makes the major axis of the orbit rotate in its own
plane so that the perigee latitude changes. Neither of these two motions has
any first-order effect on the orbital changes caused by air drag in a spherically-
symmetrical atmosphere; but the change in the perigee latitude must be taken
into account when the atmosphere is assumed to be oblate. The changes in
perigee distance from the earth's centre caused by the odd harmonics in the
earth's gravitational field amount to less than lO km and can usually be allowed
for separately.
Luni-solar perturbations [2] are very small for near-satellites with orbital
eccentricity less than 0.2, and can also be considered separately.
In this paper the equations specifying the contraction of a satellite orbit
under the influence of air drag are first given in their simplest form, in section II.
Then, in section III, the properties of the upper atmosphere are briefly surveyed.
In section IV the equations for an orbit contracting in an oblate atmosphere
are stated, and section V gives numerical results.

II. General Effect of the Atmosphere on Elliptic Orbit, with Simplest Results
Since the air drag is greatest over the section of the orbit near perigee, where
the ambient air is most dense, the chief effect of drag is to retard the satellite
each time it passes perigee, with the result that the satellite does not swing
out so far on the opposite side of the earth as it did on its previous revolution.
The apogee height is therefore steadily reduced while the perigee height remains
almost constant: the orbit contracts and becomes more nearly circular.
In deriving the simplest mathematical formulae to describe this contraction,
we assume that the atmosphere is spherically symmetrical and does not vary
with time. We also assume that the air drag D acts in the direction opposite to
the satellite's velocity V relative to the ambient air and is expressible as
D=teV 2 SCD, (1}
where eis the air density, S the mean cross-sectional area and CD a drag coefficient.
An uncontrolled satellite tends to rotate about an axis of maximum moment
of inertia, and the direction in space of this axis changes only slowly. S is therefore
taken as the mean of the cross-sectional areas in the two extreme modes of
motion, which, for a long thin satellite, are tumbling end-over-end and rotating
exactly like an aeroplane propeller. CD remains almost constant during asatellite's
life, its numerical value [3] being near 2.2. S CD is not likely to vary by more
than about 10% even for satellites of large length/diameter ratio, and in developing
the theory it is assumed constant.
We further assume that the air density e varies exponentially with height
y in the height-band of perhaps 100 km above perigee where drag is important,
so that

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