Photon Pressure Force on Space Debris TOPEX/Poseidon Measured by Satellite Laser Ranging
| Autor: | James Bennett, Christopher Moore, X Han, Krzysztof Sośnica, N. I. Koshkin, Franz Koidl, Giuseppe Bianco, P Lejba, Matthew Wilkinson, Manuel Catalán, Georg Kirchner, J Rodríguez, T Suchodolski, L. Grunwaldt, H-C Lim, Michael Steindorfer, J R. del Pino, D. Kucharski, Eunseo Park, K Salmins, L. Shakun, C Fan, Peiyuan Wang, M Lachut, Francesco Vespe |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Physics
Photon 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Satellite laser ranging Environmental Science (miscellaneous) Geodesy 01 natural sciences Rotational energy Photometry (optics) Radiation pressure 0103 physical sciences General Earth and Planetary Sciences Altimeter 010303 astronomy & astrophysics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Space environment Remote sensing Space debris |
| Zdroj: | Earth and Space Science. 4:661-668 |
| ISSN: | 2333-5084 |
| Popis: | The TOPEX/Poseidon (T/P) altimetry mission operated for 13 years before the satellite was decommissioned in January 2006, becoming a large space debris object at an altitude of 1,340 km. Since the end of the mission, the interaction of T/P with the space environment has driven the satellite's spin dynamics. Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) measurements collected from June 2014 until October 2016 allow for the satellite spin axis orientation to be determined with an accuracy of 1.7°. The spin axis coincides with the platform yaw axis (formerly pointing in the nadir direction) about which the body rotates in a counterclockwise direction. The combined photometric and SLR data collected over the 11-year time span indicates that T/P has continuously gained rotational energy at an average rate of 2.87 J/day and spins with a period of 10.73 s as of Oct. 19, 2016. The satellite attitude model shows a variation of the cross sectional area in the sun direction between 8.2 m2 and 34 m2. The direct solar radiation pressure is the main factor responsible for the spin-up of the body and the exerted photon force varies from 65 μN to 228 μN around the mean value of 138.6 μN. Including realistic surface force modeling in orbit propagation algorithms will improve the prediction accuracy, giving better conjunction warnings for scenarios like the recent close approach reported by the ILRS Space Debris Study Group – an approximate 400 m flyby between T/P and Jason-2 on June 20, 2017 (ILRS, 2017). |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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