Comparison of General Perturbations and Special Perturbations Ephemerides

摘要

The accuracy of the SPACETRACK General Perturbations program over short periods is evaluated for a number of cases. They show that oscillatory terms resulting from drag perturbations contribute heavily to errors at low altitudes, and that these terms must be eliminated if the first order theory is to be used for high accuracy in these circumstances. It appears that the evaluation technique employed would be useful in addressing a number of other problems; several promising applications are discussed. (Author)