Abstract
Satellites moving through the atmosphere and experience a drag force in the opposite direction of their orbital motion. Atmospheric drag is the largest perturbations for low earth orbit satellites beside earth gravitation. We calculate the atmospheric drag on LAPAN A1 in a sun-synchronous circular orbit with an inclination of 97.60°, eccentricity of 0.0014, period of 99.039 minutes and an altitude of 630 km, during September in 2017. Data of orbital elements (Two Line Elements) taken from www.celestrak.com. Geomagnetic activity data (Dst index) taken from https://omniweb.gsfc.nasa.gov. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between atmospheric drag, orbital elements, and a geomagnetic storm. In 2017, hourly Dst index had a minimum value of -124 nT at 18:00 UTC, on September 8. But the geomagnetic storm in 2017 didn’t influence significantly to drag acceleration of LAPAN A1. During geomagnetic storm period in 2017, the changes of orbital elements were really small and the data is too scattered to be concluded as the effect of the geomagnetic storm.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
