Symplectic integration of space debris motion considering several Earth鈥檚 shadowing models

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• 作者：Ch. Hubaux^a ; ^{charles.hubaux@fundp.ac.be} ; A. Lemaî ; tre^a ; ^{anne.lemaitre@fundp.ac.be} ; N. Delsate^a ; ^b ; ^{nicolas.delsate@fundp.ac.be} ; T. Carletti^a ; ^{timoteo.carletti@fundp.ac.be}
• 关键词：Space debris ; Symplectic integration ; Solar radiation pressure ; Shadowing effects ; High area-to-mass ratios
• 刊名：Advances in Space Research
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：6_02731177
• 类别：et
• 出版时间：15 May, 2012
• 卷：49
• 期：10
• 页码：1472-1486
• 文件大小：3172 K

摘要

In this work, we present a symplectic integration scheme to numerically compute space debris motion. Such an integrator is particularly suitable to obtain reliable trajectories of objects lying on high orbits, especially geostationary ones. Indeed, it has already been demonstrated that such objects could stay there for hundreds of years. Our model takes into account the Earth鈥檚 gravitational potential, luni-solar and planetary gravitational perturbations and direct solar radiation pressure. Based on the analysis of the energy conservation and on a comparison with a high order non-symplectic integrator, we show that our algorithm allows us to use large time steps and keep accurate results. We also propose an innovative method to model Earth鈥檚 shadow crossings by means of a smooth shadow function. In the particular framework of symplectic integration, such a function needs to be included analytically in the equations of motion in order to prevent numerical drifts of the energy. For the sake of completeness, both cylindrical shadows and penumbra transitions models are considered. We show that both models are not equivalent and that big discrepancies actually appear between associated orbits, especially for high area-to-mass ratios.