Averaging tesseral effects: Closed form relegation versus expansions of elliptic motion

Abstract

Longitude-dependent terms of the geopotential cause nonnegligible short-period effects in orbit propagation of artificial satellites. Hence, accurate analytical and semianalytical theories must cope with tesseral harmonics. Modern algorithms for dealing analytically with them allow for closed form relegation. Nevertheless, current procedures for the relegation of tesseral effects from subsynchronous orbits are unavoidably related to orbit eccentricity, a key fact that is not enough emphasized and constrains application of this technique to small and moderate eccentricities. Comparisons with averaging procedures based on classical expansions of elliptic motion are carried out, and the pros and cons of each approach are discussed. © 2013 Martin Lara et al.