Methods to Improve the Maintenance of the Earth Catalog of Satellites During Severe Solar Storms

<p>The objective of this thesis is to investigate methods to improve the ability to maintain the inventory of orbital elements of Earth satellites during periods of atmospheric disturbance brought on by severe solar activity. Existing techniques do not account for such atmospheric dynamics resulting in tracking errors of several seconds in predicted crossing time. Two techniques are examined to reduce of these tracking errors. First density predicted from various atmospheric models is fit to the orbital decay rate for a number of satellites. An orbital decay model is then developed that could be used to reduce tracking errors by accounting for atmospheric changes. The second approach utilizes a Kalman filter to estimate the orbital decay rate of a satellite after every observation. The new information is used to predict the next observation. Results from the first approach demonstrated the feasibility of building an orbital decay model based on predicted atmospheric density. Correlation of atmospheric density to orbital decay was as high as 0.88. However it is clear that contemporary: atmospheric models need further improvement in modeling density perturbations polar region brought on by solar activity. The second approach resulted in a dramatic reduction in tracking errors for certain satellites during severe solar Storms. For example in the limited cases studied the reduction in tracking errors ranged from 79 to 25 percent.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>