Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ephemeris of a highly eccentric orbit: Explorer 28

  • Published:
Celestial mechanics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An ephemeris has been obtained for Explorer 28 (IMP 3) which agrees well with 2 years of radio observations and with SAO observations a year later. This ephemeris is generated over the 3 year lifetime by a numerical integration method utilizing a set of initial conditions, at launch and without requiring further differential correction. Because highly eccentric orbits are difficult to compute with acceptable accuracy and because a long continuous arc has been obtained which compares with actual data to a known precision, this ephemeris may be used as a standard for computing highly eccentric orbits in the Earth-Moon system.

Orbit improvement was used to obtain the initial conditions which generated the ephemeris. This improvement was based on correcting the energy by adjusting the semimajor axis to match computed times of perigee passage with the observed. This procedure may generate errors in semimajor axis to compensate for model errors in the energy; however this compensation error is also implicit in orbit determination itself.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Brouwer and Clemence:Methods of Celestial Mechanics, Academic Press, New York, p. 529.

  • Cook and Scott: 1967,Planetary Space Sci. 15, 1549–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • King-Hele, D. G.: personal communication.

  • Kozai: 1962,Astron. J. 67, 591–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lidov, M. L.:Planetary Space Sci. 9, 719–59 (Transl. Iskusstvennye Sputniki Zemli 8, 1961).

    Google Scholar 

  • Musen, P.: 1963, ‘A Discussion of Halphen's Method for Secular Perturbations and its Applications to the Determination of Long Range Effects in the Motion of Celestial Bodies, Part I’, NASA R-176.

  • National Space Science Data Center: “Data Catalogue of Satellite and Rocket Experiments” NSSDC 68-01, GSFC.

  • Paddack, S. J. and Shute, B. E.: 1965, ‘IMP-C Orbit and Launch Time Analysis’, GSFC X-643-65-40.

  • Renard, M. L.: 1968, ‘Approximate Stability Criteria for Highly Eccentric Orbits about the Earth’, IAF paper AD83 (preprint), 19th International Astronautical Congress, New York.

  • Renard, M. L.: 1969, ‘Practical Stability of Highly Eccentric Orbits Quasi-Normal to the Ecliptic’, Preprint, No. 69-926, AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Conference.

  • Shute, B. E.: 1964, ‘Prelaunch Analysis of High Eccentricity Orbits’, NASA Tech. Note D-2350.

  • Smith, Jr. A. J.: 1964, ‘A Discussion of Halphen's Method for Secular Perturbations and its Applications to the Determination of Long Range Effects in the Motions of Celestial Bodies, Part II’, NASA R-194.

  • Whitlock, F., Wolf, H., Lefton, L., and Levine, N.: 1967, ‘ITEM Program Manual Fortran IV Version’, GSFC X-643-67-364.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., U.S.A.

    Barbara E. Lowrey

Authors
  1. Barbara E. Lowrey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lowrey, B.E. Ephemeris of a highly eccentric orbit: Explorer 28. Celestial Mechanics 5, 107–125 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01229516

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01229516

Keywords

Search

Navigation