Abstract Solid rocket motors are currently used to transfer satellites from low Earth to geosynchronous orbit. Since the apogee kick burn is directed out of the orbital plane, most of the aluminum oxide particles making up the plume will not immediately de-orbit. Studies show that the flux (number of impacts/m2/yr) resulting from just one burn can exceed the natural meteoroid flux for particles of like size (1–10 μm). Furthermore, this man-made flux is distributed evenly from low Earth to geosynchronous altitudes. Solar radiation pressure is the dominate perturbation causing the orbital eccentricity to oscillate with a phase dependent on the initial orbital orientation to the Sun. A semi-analytical technique which includes the effects of the J2, solar, and lunar gravitational accelerations as well as radiation pressure and atmospheric drag is developed to analyze the stability of the wide range of particle orbits. A statistically significant random sample of particles are propagated forward in time with the results indicating that less than 5% of all the particles will remain in orbit over one year.
The effects of particulates from solid rocket motors fired in space
Advances in Space Research ; 5 , 2 ; 77-86
1985-01-01
10 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English