Effects of Plasma Drag on Low Earth Orbiting Satellites due to Heating of Earth's Atmosphere by Coronal Mass Ejections — mentioned by walrus01

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 21:56:08 GMT

You can't do this on a long term scale with something that's below geostationary orbit, because random solar flares and solar phenomena cause expansion and contraction of the earth's atmosphere at unpredictable times. If you have a satellite in an orbit that is low enough to gradually degrade through atmospheric drag (even if it's a very high-LEO orbit or molniya orbit that won't reenter for an estimated 300 years), the exact time that it will re-enter can't be predicted with any confidence. At least not if you are talking about a very long time scale. Short-term (3, 5 or 7 year time scale)…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

Effects of Plasma Drag on Low Earth Orbiting Satellites due to Heating of Earth's Atmosphere by Coronal Mass Ejections · HackerPapers discussions

Effects of Plasma Drag on Low Earth Orbiting Satellites due to Heating of Earth's Atmosphere by Coronal Mass Ejections — mentioned by walrus01