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

Nwankwo, Victor U. J.; Denig, W. F.; Ajakaiye, Muyiwa P.; Akanni, Wahabbi; Fatokun, Johnson; Chakrabarti, Sandip K.; Raulin, Jean-Pierre; Correia, E.; Enoh, John E.

doi:10.1109/icmcecs47690.2020.247003

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…For example, the European Space Agency (ESA) is currently assessing space-weather-related risks within the framework of its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme (Bobrinsky and Del Monte, 2010). An important mitigation approach (among others) for safeguarding satellite operations is the development and implementation of models that can mimic (and assess) the impact of space weather on LEO satellites (Nwankwo et al, 2020b). Accordingly, this work is of practical importance as the resulting model and simulation support efforts to increase SSA and improve collision risk mitigation.…”

Section: Relevance Of the Study And Its Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Atmospheric drag effects on modelled low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites during the July 2000 Bastille Day event in contrast to an interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions

Nwankwo¹,

Denig

Chakrabarti

et al. 2021

Ann. Geophys.

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Abstract. In this work, we simulated the atmospheric drag effect on two model SmallSats (small satellites) in low Earth orbit (LEO) with different ballistic coefficients during 1-month intervals of solar–geomagnetic quiet and perturbed conditions. The goal of this effort was to quantify how solar–geomagnetic activity influences atmospheric drag and perturbs satellite orbits, with particular emphasis on the Bastille Day event. Atmospheric drag compromises satellite operations due to increased ephemeris errors, attitude positional uncertainties and premature satellite re-entry. During a 1-month interval of generally quiescent solar–geomagnetic activity (July 2006), the decay in altitude (h) was a modest 0.53 km (0.66 km) for the satellite with the smaller (larger) ballistic coefficient of 2.2×10-3 m2 kg−1 (3.03×10-3 m2 kg−1). The associated orbital decay rates (ODRs) during this quiet interval ranged from 13 to 23 m per day (from 16 to 29 m per day). For the disturbed interval of July 2000 the significantly increased altitude loss and range of ODRs were 2.77 km (3.09 km) and 65 to 120 m per day (78 to 142 m per day), respectively. Within the two periods, more detailed analyses over 12 d intervals of extremely quiet and disturbed conditions revealed respective orbital decays of 0.16 km (0.20 km) and 1.14 km (1.27 km) for the satellite with the smaller (larger) ballistic coefficient. In essence, the model results show that there was a 6- to 7-fold increase in the deleterious impacts of satellite drag between the quiet and disturbed periods. We also estimated the enhanced atmospheric drag effect on the satellites' parameters caused by the July 2000 Bastille Day event (in contrast to the interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions). The additional percentage increase, due to the Bastille Day event, to the monthly mean values of h and ODR are 34.69 % and 50.13 % for Sat-A and 36.45 % and 68.95 % for Sat-B. These simulations confirmed (i) the dependence of atmospheric drag force on a satellite's ballistic coefficient, and (ii) that increased solar–geomagnetic activity substantially raises the degrading effect of satellite drag. In addition, the results indicate that the impact of short-duration geomagnetic transients (such as the Bastille Day storm) can have a further deleterious effect on normal satellite operations. Thus, this work increases the visibility and contributes to the scientific knowledge surrounding the Bastille Day event and also motivates the introduction of new indices used to describe and estimate the atmospheric drag effect when comparing regimes of varying solar–geomagnetic activity. We suggest that a model of satellite drag, when combined with a high-fidelity atmospheric specification as was done here, can lead to improved satellite ephemeris estimates.

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Section: Relevance Of the Study And Its Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been recommended that mitigation efforts be more robust for the solar maximum phase because the rate of impact is higher during this regime (e.g. Nwankwo et al, 2020b). Sudden severe solar energetic transients (SSETs) that can produce huge impact are highly probable during solar maximum.…”

Section: Relevance Of the Study And Its Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric drag effects on modelled low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites during the July 2000 Bastille Day event in contrast to an interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions

Nwankwo¹,

Denig

Chakrabarti

et al. 2021

Ann. Geophys.

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“…In this work we model changes in the Orbital Decay Rate (ODR, units of m/day) and the monthly mean orbital decay (units of km) experienced by 2 satellites having different ballistic coefficients, B, under different solar-geomagnetic conditions (Nwankwo et al, 2020). Orbital decay scenario of a LEO satellite due to atmospheric drag.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 10. 1-hour averaged values of Vsw, PD, Dst, IMF By and Bz, and AE during 9-20 July 2000 (left) and 15-26 July 2006 (right)(Nwankwo et al, 2020) …”

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confidence: 99%

Atmospheric drag effects on modelled LEO satellites during the July 2000 Bastille Day event in contrast to an interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions

Nwankwo¹,

Denig²,

Chakrabarti³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. In this work we simulated the effects of atmospheric drag on two model SmallSats in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with different ballistic coefficients during 1-month intervals of solar-geomagnetic quiet and perturbed conditions. The goal of this effort was to quantify how solar-geomagnetic activity influences atmospheric drag and perturbs satellite orbits. Atmospheric drag compromises satellite operations due to increased ephemeris errors, attitude positional uncertainties and premature satellite re-entry. During a 1-month interval of generally quiescent solar-geomagnetic activity (July 2006) the decay in altitude (h) was a modest 0.53 km (0.66 km) for the satellite with the smaller (larger) ballistic coefficient of 2.2 × 10−3 m2/kg (3.03 × 10−3 m2/kg). The associated Orbital Decay Rates (ODRs) during this quiet interval ranged from 13 m/day to 23 m/day (from 16 m/day to 29 m/day). For the disturbed interval of July 2000 the significantly increased altitude loss and range of ODRs were 2.77 km (3.09 km) and 65 m/day to 120 m/day (78 m/day to 142 m/day), respectively. Within the two periods more detailed analyses over 12-day intervals of extremely quiet and disturbed conditions revealed respective orbital decays of 0.16 km (0.20 km) and 1.14 km (1.27 km) for the satellite with the smaller (larger) ballistic coefficient. In essence, the model results show that there was a 6–7 fold increase in the deleterious impacts of satellite drag between the quiet and disturbed periods. We also estimated the enhanced atmospheric drag effect on the satellites' parameters caused by the July 2000 Bastille Day event (in contrast to the interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions). The additional percentage increase due to the Bastille Day event to the monthly mean values of h and ODR are 34.69 % and 50.13 % for Sat-A, and 36.45 % and 68.95 % for Sat-B. These simulations confirmed; (i) the dependence of atmospheric drag force on a satellite's ballistic coefficient, and (ii) that increased solar-geomagnetic activity substantially raises the degrading effect of satellite drag. In addition, the results indicate that the impact of short-duration geomagnetic transients can have a further deleterious effect on normal satellite operations. While none of these findings were particularly surprising or profound we suggest that a model of satellite drag when combined with a high-fidelity atmospheric specification, as was done here, can lead to improved satellite ephemeris estimates.

show abstract

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

Cited by 2 publications

References 11 publications

Atmospheric drag effects on modelled low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites during the July 2000 Bastille Day event in contrast to an interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions

Atmospheric drag effects on modelled low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites during the July 2000 Bastille Day event in contrast to an interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions

Atmospheric drag effects on modelled LEO satellites during the July 2000 Bastille Day event in contrast to an interval of geomagnetically quiet conditions

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