Analytical treatment of air drag and earth oblateness effects upon an artificial satellite

A development of an analytical solution for the motion of an artificial Earth satellite subject to the combined effects of Earth gravity and air drag is presented. The atmospheric model takes into account a linear variation of the density scale height with altitude, the rotation and the oblateness of the atmosphere. The perturbation theory is based upon Lie transforms. The secular and long-periodic terms as well as the short-periodic effects are included in the theory which is valid for small to moderate eccentricities and for all values of the inclination.Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research