Abstract
A new approach to the semi-analytical modelling of Earth-satellite motion is proposed. It is based on the standard Cowell procedure in which the satellite's equations of motions are integrated numerically, but it uses analytical formulae for the high-frequency perturbations associated with geopotential harmonics of high degree; this avoids the need for very short integration steps. As the integration procedure dominates in the new approach, it differs fundamentally from the author's earlier method in which all the short-period perturbations are analytically represented and a minimal Euler integration operates on a set of mean orbital elements. Thus much less mathematical development is now necessary and it should be possible to produce operational software in a relatively short timescale.
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