Electromagnetic effects on the orbital motion of a charged spacecraft

作     者：Yehia Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Khalil Ibrahim Khalil 

作者机构：National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) Helwan Cairo 11721Egypt Department of Mathematics Hail University Hail 2440 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 

出 版 物：《Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics》 (天文和天体物理学研究（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2014年第14卷第5期

页      面：589-600页

核心收录：

学科分类：070801[理学-固体地球物理学] 0709[理学-地质学] 07[理学] 08[工学] 0708[理学-地球物理学] 0825[工学-航空宇航科学与技术] 0704[理学-天文学] 

主　　题：space vehicles    atmospheric effects    celestial mechanics    kine matics and dynamics 

摘      要：This paper deals with the effects of electromagnetic forces on the orbital motion of a spacecraft. The electrostatic charge which a spacecraft generates on its surface in the Earth＇s magnetic field will be subject to a perturbative Lorentz force. A model incorporating all Lorentz forces as a function of orbital elements has been developed on the basis of magnetic and electric fields. This Lorentz force can be used to modify or perturb the spacecraft＇s orbits. Lagrange＇s planetary equations in the Gauss variational form are derived using the Lorentz force as a perturbation to a Keplerian orbit. Our approach incorporates orbital inclination and the true anomaly. The numer- ical results of Lagrange＇s planetary equations for some operational satellites show that the perturbation in the orbital elements of the spacecraft is a second order perturba- tion for a certain value of charge. The effect of the Lorentz force due to its magnetic component is three times that of the Lorentz force due to its electric component. In addition, the numerical results confirm that the strong effects are due to the Lorentz force in a polar orbit, which is consistent with realistic physical phenomena that occur in polar orbits. The results confirm that the magnitude of the Lorentz force depends on the amount of charge. This means that we can use artificial charging to create a force to control the attitude and orbital motion of a spacecraft.