Abstract To improve our knowledge of the variations of the upper atmosphere density in 1989 experiments were made in the USSR using passive standard satellites of the shape of a sphere with the known weight and size. These satellites were set in pairs onboard spacecrafts “Resourse-F”, COSPAR identification No. 89038001. The above spacecrafts were put into orbit on May 25, 1989 and July 18, 1989. The separation of standard satellites from the first spacecraft took place on June 8 and 9 from the second one — on August 6 and 7. These satellites as well as other 58 space objects chosen for the experiment were observed by radars. Improvement of the orbits was made by the trajectory measurements obtained. The movement of the satellites was under control up to their decay in the atmosphere. For the estimation of a satellite drag in the atmosphere, ballistic coefficient was used. It was determined in the process of improvement of orbital elements as accomodation coefficient of the actual drag and the estimated atmosphere density. Besides the above mentioned satellites two more satellites (No. intern 80037001 and 82121001) having the shape of a smooth sphere were used as standard ones. In the considered altitude and time interval with 3 hours' resolution relative variations of the atmosphere density /1/ are built in the form of normalized declinations of the actual density in the given point from those calculated by the dynamic model /2/ with the permanent level of solar and geomagnetic activity. Dependences of variations on indeces F10.7 and Kp built, confirm a possibility of applications of variations for the improvement of the atmosphere density.
The space-temporal variations of the upper atmosphere density derived from satellite drag data
Advances in Space Research ; 11 , 6 ; 155-160
1991-01-01
6 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English