Effects of plasma drag on low Earth orbiting satellites due to solar forcing induced perturbations and heating

Nwankwo, Victor U. J.; Chakrabarti, Sandip K.; Weigel, R. S.

doi:10.1016/j.asr.2015.03.044

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The strength of the surface magnetic field is inversely proportional to the energy content of the ring current, which increases during geomagnetic storms (Hamilton et al, 1988). The solar wind condition and the mentioned geomagnetic parameters are important for studying and understanding magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling and effects (Borovsky and Denton, 2006;Tsurutani et al, 2006;Kozyra et al, 2006;Weigel 2010;Nwankwo et al, , 2015. However, having provided a precise background of the parameters, we will concentrate mainly on how various aspects of diurnal VLF signal varies in response to geomagnetic activity and storm footprints in the D region ionosphere via these parameters, especially the Dst index.…”

Section: Data Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing geomagnetic storm-driven magnetosphere–ionosphere dynamics in D-region via propagation characteristics of very low frequency radio signals

Nwankwo

Chakrabarti

Ogunmodimu

2016

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

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The amplitude and phase of VLF/LF radio signals are sensitive to changes in electrical conductivity of the lower ionosphere which imprints its signature on the Earth-ionosphere waveguide. This characteristics makes it useful in studying sudden ionospheric disturbances, especially those related to prompt X-ray flux output from solar flares and gamma ray bursts (GRBs). However, strong geomagnetic disturbance and storm conditions are known to produce large and global ionospheric disturbances, which can significantly affect VLF radio propagation in the D region of the ionosphere. In this paper, using the data of three propagation paths at mid-latitudes (40, we analyze the trend of aspects of VLF diurnal signal under varying solar and geomagnetic space environmental conditions in order to identify possible geomagnetic footprints on the D region characteristics. We found that the trend of variations generally reflect the prevailing space weather conditions in various time scales. In particular, the 'dipping' of mid-day signal amplitude (MDP) of VLF always occurs after geomagnetic perturbed or storm conditions in the time scale of 1-2 days. The mean signal before sunrise (MBSR) and mean signal after sunset (MASS) also exhibit storm-induced dipping, but they appear to be influenced by event's exact occurrence time and highly variable conditions of dusk-to-dawn ionosphere. We observed fewer cases of the signals rise (e.g., MDP, MBSR or MASS) following a significant geomagnetic event, though this effect may be related to storms associated phenomena or Preprint submitted to Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics March 10, 2016 effects arising from sources other than solar origin. The magnitude of induced dipping (or rise) significantly depends on the intensity and duration of event(s), as well as the propagation path of the signal. The post-storm day signal (following a main event, with lesser or significantly reduced geomagnetic activity), exhibited a tendency of recovery to pre-storm day level. In the present analysis, We do not see a well defined trend of the variations of the post-storm sunrise terminator (SRT) and sunset terminator (SST). The SRT and SST signals show more post-storm dipping in GQD-A118 propagation path but generally an increase along DHO-A118 propagation path. Thus the result could be propagation path dependent and detailed modeling is required to understand these phenomena.

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Section: Data Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing geomagnetic storm-driven magnetosphere–ionosphere dynamics in D-region via propagation characteristics of very low frequency radio signals

Nwankwo

Chakrabarti

Ogunmodimu

2016

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics

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“…We formulated and solved a set of coupled differential equations in previous work, to obtain instantaneous position, velocity components and acceleration of typical LEO satellites under the influence of atmospheric drag force in orbit (e.g., [4,[10][11][12]). We used the spherical polar coordinate system (r, θ, ø) with origin at the center of the Earth, and assumed that the satellite always remains in the same plane (i.e., θ=constant) while changing its position through the azimuthal parameters (ø, ǿ).…”

Section: Modeling Atmospheric Drag Effect On Leo Satellites' Trajectorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spacecrafts moving through atmospheric medium experience atmospheric drag force, which constantly takes energy away from the orbit [1][2][3]. Atmospheric drag is the strongest force affecting the motion of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) especially at altitudes <800 km [4]. Solar activity enhances atmospheric drag on Low Earth orbiting satellites (LEOSs) and their effects on the space systems can be profound depending on the severity of solar activity [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Solar activity enhances atmospheric drag on Low Earth orbiting satellites (LEOSs) and their effects on the space systems can be profound depending on the severity of solar activity [3]. Atmospheric drag can cause satellites premature re-entry, as well as difficulty in maneuvering, identifying and tracking of satellites and other space objects, and prediction of their lifetime and actual re-entry ( [4], and references therein). Premature re-entry of spacecrafts could be due to draginduced accelerated orbital decay.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simulation of atmospheric drag effect on low Earth orbit satellites during intervals of perturbed and quiet geomagnetic conditions in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system

Nwankwo¹,

Denig

Ajakaiye³

et al. 2020

2020 International Conference in Mathematics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science (ICMCECS)

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“…During the geomagnetic storm, the Joule heating at auroral and subauroral regions makes more contributions to the increase of atmospheric density (Knipp et al, 2004). Therefore, the increased atmosphere density at storm periods can largely enhance the atmosphere drag force and perturb the trajectories of LEO satellites, leading to accelerated orbital decay for LEO (Lei et al, 2013;Nwankwo et al, 2015;Walterscheid, 1989). The drastic fluctuation of the atmosphere density will increase the difficulty of drag force modeling for LEO POD during geomagnetic storms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Geomagnetic Storm of 7‐8 September 2017 on the Swarm Precise Orbit Determination

Zhang

Xiong

et al. 2019

JGR Space Physics

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We analyze a recent geomagnetic storm event on 7‐8 September 2017 to investigate the impact of geomagnetic storm on the precise orbit determination (POD) of Swarm constellation. The storm time performance of POD is analyzed. The quality of Swarm orbits are severely degraded during the storm main phase on 8 September and the maximum precision degradation reached over 10 cm. The enhanced thermospheric mass density at Swarm altitude during the storm enlarges the atmosphere drag for low Earth orbit satellites, which makes main contributions to the storm time degradation of Swarm orbit. This negative effect of enhanced atmosphere drag on the orbit estimation is mostly suppressed by estimating a more frequent atmosphere drag parameter. The higher‐order ionospheric effects on the POD of Swarm are also analyzed. The vertical total electron content derived from the Swarm onboard Global Positioning System receiver presents a larger enhancement on the dayside at low latitude and midlatitude during the storm main phase. This leads to an increase in the high‐order ionospheric effects, especially in the second‐order terms. No evident precision improvement is observed after correcting the high‐order ionospheric effects. The results demonstrate that during this geomagnetic storm, the enhanced thermospheric neutral density serves as a stronger error source than the enhanced ionospheric plasma density for the low Earth orbit satellite orbit determination processing.

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Effects of plasma drag on low Earth orbiting satellites due to solar forcing induced perturbations and heating

Cited by 17 publications

References 43 publications

Probing geomagnetic storm-driven magnetosphere–ionosphere dynamics in D-region via propagation characteristics of very low frequency radio signals

Probing geomagnetic storm-driven magnetosphere–ionosphere dynamics in D-region via propagation characteristics of very low frequency radio signals

Simulation of atmospheric drag effect on low Earth orbit satellites during intervals of perturbed and quiet geomagnetic conditions in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system

The Influence of Geomagnetic Storm of 7‐8 September 2017 on the Swarm Precise Orbit Determination

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