Using spacecraft range data and radar observations for the improvement of the orbital elements of planets and parameters of Mars rotation

1996 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
E.V. Pitjeva

The extremely precise Viking (1972–1982) and Mariner data (1971–1972) were processed simultaneously with the radar-ranging observations of Mars made in Goldstone, Haystack and Arecibo in 1971–1973 for the improvement of the orbital elements of Mars and Earth and parameters of Mars rotation. Reduction of measurements included relativistic corrections, effects of propagation of electromagnetic signals in the Earth troposphere and in the solar corona, corrections for topography of the Mars surface. The precision of the least squares estimates is rather high, for example formal standard deviations of semi-major axis of Mars and Earth and the Astronomical Unit were 1–2 m.

Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 183
Author(s):  
Yongjie Liu ◽  
Yu Jiang ◽  
Hengnian Li ◽  
Hui Zhang

This paper intends to show some special types of orbits around Jupiter based on the mean element theory, including stationary orbits, sun-synchronous orbits, orbits at the critical inclination, and repeating ground track orbits. A gravity model concerning only the perturbations of J2 and J4 terms is used here. Compared with special orbits around the Earth, the orbit dynamics differ greatly: (1) There do not exist longitude drifts on stationary orbits due to non-spherical gravity since only J2 and J4 terms are taken into account in the gravity model. All points on stationary orbits are degenerate equilibrium points. Moreover, the satellite will oscillate in the radial and North-South directions after a sufficiently small perturbation of stationary orbits. (2) The inclinations of sun-synchronous orbits are always bigger than 90 degrees, but smaller than those for satellites around the Earth. (3) The critical inclinations are no-longer independent of the semi-major axis and eccentricity of the orbits. The results show that if the eccentricity is small, the critical inclinations will decrease as the altitudes of orbits increase; if the eccentricity is larger, the critical inclinations will increase as the altitudes of orbits increase. (4) The inclinations of repeating ground track orbits are monotonically increasing rapidly with respect to the altitudes of orbits.


Author(s):  
Luis Acedo

In this paper, we revisit a modified version of the classical Whitehead's theory of gravity in which all possible bilinear forms are considered to define the corresponding metric. Although, this is a linear theory that fails to give accurate results for the most sophisticated predictions of general relativity, such as gravity waves, it can still provide a convenient framework to analyze some new phenomena in the Solar System. In particular, recent development in the accurate tracking of spacecraft and the ephemerides of planetary positions have revealed certain anomalies in relation with our standard paradigm for celestial mechanics. Among them the so-called flyby anomaly and the anomalous increase of the astronomical unit play a prominent role. In the first case the total energy of the spacecraft changes during the flyby and a secular variation of the semi-major axis of the planetary orbits is found in the second anomaly. For this to happen it seems that a net energy and angular momentum transfer is taken place among the orbiting and the central body. We evaluate the total transfer per revolution for a planet orbiting the Sun in order to predict the astronomical unit anomaly in the context of Whitehead's theory. This could lead to a more deeply founded hypothesis for an extended gravity model.


Author(s):  
J. Salmon ◽  
R. M Canup

Impacts that leave the Earth–Moon system with a large excess in angular momentum have recently been advocated as a means of generating a protolunar disc with a composition that is nearly identical to that of the Earth's mantle. We here investigate the accretion of the Moon from discs generated by such ‘non-canonical’ impacts, which are typically more compact than discs produced by canonical impacts and have a higher fraction of their mass initially located inside the Roche limit. Our model predicts a similar overall accretional history for both canonical and non-canonical discs, with the Moon forming in three consecutive steps over hundreds of years. However, we find that, to yield a lunar-mass Moon, the more compact non-canonical discs must initially be more massive than implied by prior estimates, and only a few of the discs produced by impact simulations to date appear to meet this condition. Non-canonical impacts require that capture of the Moon into the evection resonance with the Sun reduced the Earth–Moon angular momentum by a factor of 2 or more. We find that the Moon's semi-major axis at the end of its accretion is approximately 7 R ⊕ , which is comparable to the location of the evection resonance for a post-impact Earth with a 2.5 h rotation period in the absence of a disc. Thus, the dynamics of the Moon's assembly may directly affect its ability to be captured into the resonance.


1985 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 179-180
Author(s):  
Cl. Froeschlé

We investigated the orbital evolution of Quadrantid-like meteor streams situated in the vicinity of the 2/1 resonance with Jupiter. For the starting orbital elements we took the values of the orbital elements of the Quadrantid meteor stream except for the semi-major axis which was varied between a = 3.22 and a = 3.34 AU. We considered these meteor streams as a ring and we investigated the resonant effect on the dispersion of this ring over a period of 13 000 years. Only gravitational forces due to the Sun and due to Jupiter were taken into account.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ropesh Goyal ◽  
Sten Claessens ◽  
Will Featherstone ◽  
Onkar Dikshit

<p>Spherical harmonic synthesis (SHS) can be used to compute various gravity functions (e.g., geoid undulations, height anomalies, deflections of vertical, gravity disturbances, gravity anomalies, etc.) using the 4pi fully normalised Stokes coefficients from the many freely available Global Geopotential Models (GGMs).  This requires a normal ellipsoid and its gravity field, which are defined by four parameters comprising (i) the second-degree even zonal Stokes coefficient (J2) (aka dynamic form factor), (ii) the product of the mass of the Earth and universal gravitational constant (GM) (aka geocentric gravitational constant), (iii) the Earth’s angular rate of rotation (ω), and (iv) the length of the semi-major axis (a). GGMs are also accompanied by numerical values for GM and a, which are not necessarily identical to those of the normal ellipsoid.  In addition, the value of W<sub>0,</sub> the potential of the geoid from a GGM, needs to be defined for the SHS of many gravity functions. W<sub>0</sub> may not be identical to U<sub>0</sub>, the potential on the surface of the normal ellipsoid, which follows from the four defining parameters of the normal ellipsoid.  If W<sub>0</sub> and U<sub>0</sub> are equal and if the normal ellipsoid and GGM use the same value for GM, then some terms cancel when computing the disturbing gravity potential.  However, this is not always the case, which results in a zero-degree term (bias) when the masses and potentials are different.  There is also a latitude-dependent term when the geometries of the GGM and normal ellipsoids differ.  We demonstrate these effects for some GGMs, some values of W<sub>0</sub>, and the GRS80, WGS84 and TOPEX/Poseidon ellipsoids and comment on its omission from some public domain codes and services (isGraflab.m, harmonic_synth.f and ICGEM).  In terms of geoid heights, the effect of neglecting these parameters can reach nearly one metre, which is significant when one goal of modern physical geodesy is to compute the geoid with centimetric accuracy.  It is also important to clarify these effects for all (non-specialist) users of GGMs.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Rasha H. Ibrahim ◽  
Abdul-Rahman H. Saleh

The perturbed equation of motion can be solved by using many numerical methods. Most of these solutions were inaccurate; the fourth order Adams-Bashforth method is a good numerical integration method, which was used in this research to study the variation of orbital elements under atmospheric drag influence.  A satellite in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO), with altitude form perigee = 200 km, was selected during 1300 revolutions (84.23 days) and ASat / MSat value of 5.1 m2/ 900 kg. The equations of converting state vectors into orbital elements were applied. Also, various orbital elements were evaluated and analyzed. The results showed that, for the semi-major axis, eccentricity and inclination have a secular falling discrepancy, Longitude of Ascending Node is periodic, Argument of Perigee has a secular increasing variation, while true anomaly grows linearly from 0 to 360°. Furthermore, all orbital elements, excluding Longitude of Ascending Node, Argument of Perigee, and true anomaly, were more affected by drag than other orbital elements, through their falling as the time passes. The results illustrate a high correlation as compared with literature reviews in this field.


2020 ◽  
pp. 453-461
Author(s):  
Ahmed K. Izzet ◽  
Mayada J. Hamwdi ◽  
Abed T. Jasim

     The main objective of this paper is to calculate the perturbations of tide effect on LEO's satellites . In order to achieve this goal, the changes in the orbital elements which include the semi major axis (a) eccentricity (e) inclination , right ascension of ascending nodes ( ), and fifth element argument of perigee ( ) must be employed. In the absence of perturbations, these element remain constant. The results show that the effect of tidal perturbation on the orbital elements depends on the inclination of the satellite orbit. The variation in the ratio  decreases with increasing the inclination of satellite, while it increases with increasing the time.


2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S249) ◽  
pp. 331-346
Author(s):  
Frédéric S. Masset

AbstractTides come from the fact that different parts of a system do not fall in exactly the same way in a non-uniform gravity field. In the case of a protoplanetary disk perturbed by an orbiting, prograde protoplanet, the protoplanet tides raise a wake in the disk which causes the orbital elements of the planet to change over time. The most spectacular result of this process is a change in the protoplanet's semi-major axis, which can decrease by orders of magnitude on timescales shorter than the disk lifetime. This drift in the semi-major axis is called planetary migration. In a first part, we describe how the planet and disk exchange angular momentum and energy at the Lindblad and corotation resonances. Next we review the various types of planetary migration that have so far been contemplated: type I migration, which corresponds to low-mass planets (less than a few Earth masses) triggering a linear disk response; type II migration, which corresponds to massive planets (typically at least one Jupiter mass) that open up a gap in the disk; “runaway” or type III migration, which corresponds to sub-giant planets that orbit in massive disks; and stochastic or diffusive migration, which is the migration mode of low- or intermediate-mass planets embedded in turbulent disks. Lastly, we present some recent results in the field of planetary migration.


2005 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 467-467
Author(s):  
Charles Alcock

Large scale photometric surveys can deliver very large numbers of eclipsing binary stars. It is not presently possible to obtain radial velocity information for more than a small fraction of these. We have made some progress in the estimation of the statistical distributions of orbital elements (including semi-major axis and eccentricity) in the MACHO Project catalog of eclipsing binary stars. We see the well-known tendency to circularization in short period orbits and also detect late tidal circularization during the giant phase. The extension of these techniques to newer surveys will also be discussed.


The theory previously developed for the changes in the perigee distance and semi-major axis of a satellite orbit due to air drag is extended to enable the air-density profile (i. e. its relative variation with height) to be derived from the motion of the orbit’s perigee. The solution is first obtained in terms of the change in perigee distance and then in terms of the change in the radius of the earth at the sub-perigee point. Data are analyzed by the two methods, leading to 39 (± 9) and 36 (± 15) km for the scale height in the 180 and 220 km altitude regions.


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