VISIBILITY INTERVALS BETWEEN TWO SATELLITES ORBITS UNDER J2-GRAVITY AND DRAG FORCE

W.N., AHMED; M.E., AWAD; I.A., HASSAN; M.K., AMMAR; M. R., AMIN

doi:10.21608/absb.2015.22634

VISIBILITY INTERVALS BETWEEN TWO SATELLITES ORBITS UNDER J2-GRAVITY AND DRAG FORCE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Departments of 1Applied Mathematics, Physics Division, National Research Centre.

² Astronomy, Faculty of science, Cairo University.

³ Astronomy and Meteorology, Faculty of science, Al-Azhar University.

⁴ Mathematic, Faculty of science, Helwan University.

10.21608/absb.2015.22634

Abstract

The research introduces a general analytical and computational technique for satellite-to-satellite visibility. The effect of earth’s oblateness and drag force were taken into account.The Visibility function in terms of the orbital elements of the two satellites and the time were derived. The rise and set periods of the satellites are determined through the sign of the visibility function. Numerical examples were worked for some satellites.

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Main Subjects