Effect of Orbit Perturbations on the Ground Track of Low Earth Orbit Satellite

A low Earth orbit satellite is exposed to rapidly changing environmental conditions as it passes over various geographical features and local time zone, which significantly affect Earth’s albedo heat load. The studying of the effect of this environmental changing on the satellite is associated with finding the ground track of satellite. In the present work, the governing equations of satellite motion in Keplerian low Earth orbit have been simulated within MATLAB-SIMULINK environment. The ground track of the satellite under the assumption of Keplerian orbit has been obtained. The effect of perturbation on the orbital elements have been introduced into the computer model, and the ground track of satellite under the effect of these forces has been obtained. A comparison between the two results has been performed in order to decide whether the effect of perturbation forces must be taken in consideration during the calculation of Earth’s albedo based on local albedo coefficient or that the effect is of small value enough to ignore it.