Spacecraft orbit analysis

The true orbit of a spacecraft differs from its reference orbit by small deviations due to erros in planetary and initial data, radiation and impact accelerations, and correction terms to Newton's theory of gravitation. These distortions are usually small enough to haveadditive effects on range, at the 10 m accuracy level, throughout the mission. Closed form expressions are derived (in cylindrical coordinates) for thedeviation inrange due to any given perturbing acceleration.