EFFECTS OF GENERAL ATMOSPHERIC PERTURBATIONS ON SMALL DEBRIS PARTICLEORBITS

Atmospheric perturbations due to aerodynamic lift and orthogonal force were included in the Gaussian form of the variational equations. Thes e additional perturbations are relevant to orbital objects with a high ratio of surface area to mass, especially flat particles. Equations f or the orbital elements were averaged and expanded in a small eccentri city. The analytical formulation in this paper is applicable to the ge neral case of orbiting aerodynamic bodies, whereas the numerical resul ts emphasize flat particles. The results indicate that although the dr ag is the dominant force, the nondissipative additional forces cannot he neglected. The additional perturbations mostly contribute periodic terms in addition to secular terms, especially in eccentric orbits and in the case of periodic aerodynamic coefficients.