Geosynchronous Satellites Anomalies on Geosynchronous Magnetopause Crossing

Abstract

The orbital radius of geosynchronous satellites in elliptical orbit above the equator is 6.6 times as long as the radius of the earth ‘Re’. Usually, geosynchronous satellites are inside the Earth's magnetopause the radius of which is greater than 10 Re from the Earth's center, the magnetosphere shields geosynchronous satellites from the solar wind. However, when the solar wind pressure increases, the magnetopause position approaches and crosses geosynchronous orbit. This phenomenon is called “Geosynchronous Magnetopause Crossing (GMC)”. We calculated the magnetopause position during three days before 81 satellite anomalies occurred from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2007, and analyzed a relationship between GMCs and geosynchronous satellite anomalies. The magnetopause position will be used as an index to prevent geosynchronous satellite anomalies from space environment disturbances on geosynchronous satellite operation.