Effect of atmospheric drag on artificial satellite orbit

Abstract EN

The perturbation of satellite from low earth orbit and its physical lifetime are studied by their interaction with the atmosphere.

The prediction of lifetimes of satellites or their re-entry date depends upon a knowledge of the initial satellite orbital parameters, the satellite mass to cross sectional area (in the direction of travel) and a knowledge of the upper atmospheric density and how this responds to space environmental parameters.

To establish this task a simple model for atmosphere is used which describes the density as a function of space environmental parameters, and this model is applied to calculate the perturbation rates and orbital lifetimes of satellites in essentially circular orbits below 500 km altitude.

A computer program in Q-Basic is builed to study this perturbation and measure the lifetime of satellite.

It has been found that the lifetime of satellite depends on the satellite area to mass ratio, where the shorter orbital lifetime can be obtained when the area to mass ratio increases.