Balanced Low Earth Satellite Orbits

Abstract

The present work aims at constructing an atlas of the balanced Earth satellite orbits with respect to the secular and long periodic effects of Earth oblateness with the harmonics of the geopotential retained up to the 4th zonal harmonic. The variations of the elements are averaged over the fast and medium angles, thus retaining only the secular and long periodic terms. The models obtained cover the values of the semi-major axis from 1.1 to 2 Earth’s radii, although this is applicable only for 1.1 to 1.3 Earth’s radii due to the radiation belts. The atlas obtained is useful for different purposes, with those having the semi-major axis in this range particularly for remote sensing and meteorology.