Geostationary Orbit Transfer with Lunar Gravity Assist from Non-equatorial Launch Site

Improvements in lunar gravity field modeling and orbit determination from SELENE multi-satellite tracking data types

The launch of SELENE, which acquired the first direct tracking data over the farside of the Moon by the use of 4-way Doppler data between a relay satellite and the main satellite, has resulted in a dramatic improvement of the knowledge of the global lunar gravity field[1,2]. In addition to the 4-way Doppler data, same-beam differential VLBI data between the two sub-satellites and two stations o...

Monitoring tropospheric pollution using infrared spectroscopy from geostationary orbit

This paper presents the Geostationary Fourier Imaging Spectrometer (GeoFIS), a new satellite instrument that has been proposed to monitor tropospheric key pollutants (O3, CO) in order to improve the predictive capability of tropospheric chemistry models. The horizontal resolution of GeoFIS is about 15× 15 km2 and the temporal resolution is about 60 minutes. It is shown that the current instrume...

Analytical method for determining the statistics of interference between non-geostationary-satellite orbit fixed-satellite service systems and other non-geostationary-satellite orbit fixed-satellite service systems or geostationary-satellite orbit fixed-satellite service networks

Ejection (launch) Depths of Lunar Meteorites

More than 130 lunar meteorites have been found in Antarc-tica and other arid regions throughout the world. Even though nearly half of all lunar meteorites are paired falls and the location from which they were launched is unknown, they sample a more extensive area of lunar crust than manned sample returns, thereby providing a vital record of lunar crust materials. To use lunar meteorites to exp...

Lifetime Estimation of the Upper Stage of GSAT-14 in Geostationary Transfer Orbit

The combination of atmospheric drag and lunar and solar perturbations in addition to Earth's oblateness influences the orbital lifetime of an upper stage in geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). These high eccentric orbits undergo fluctuations in both perturbations and velocity and are very sensitive to the initial conditions. The main objective of this paper is to predict the reentry time of the...