Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic Superstorms
Abstract Understanding extreme space weather events is of paramount importance in efforts to protect technological systems in space and on the ground. Particularly in the thermosphere, the subsequent extreme magnetic storms can pose serious threats to low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft by intensifying...
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| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Space Weather |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002472 |
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| author | Denny M. Oliveira Eftyhia Zesta Hisashi Hayakawa Ankush Bhaskar |
| author_facet | Denny M. Oliveira Eftyhia Zesta Hisashi Hayakawa Ankush Bhaskar |
| author_sort | Denny M. Oliveira |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Understanding extreme space weather events is of paramount importance in efforts to protect technological systems in space and on the ground. Particularly in the thermosphere, the subsequent extreme magnetic storms can pose serious threats to low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft by intensifying errors in orbit predictions. Extreme magnetic storms (minimum Dst ≤ −250 nT) are extremely rare: Only seven events occurred during the era of spacecraft with high‐level accelerometers such as CHAMP (CHAllenge Minisatellite Payload) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate experiment) and none with minimum Dst ≤ −500 nT, here termed magnetic superstorms. Therefore, current knowledge of thermospheric mass density response to superstorms is very limited. Thus, in order to advance this knowledge, four known magnetic superstorms in history, that is, events occurring before CHAMP's and GRACE's commission times, with complete data sets, are used to empirically estimate density enhancements and subsequent orbital drag. The November 2003 magnetic storm (minimum Dst = −422 nT), the most extreme event observed by both satellites, is used as the benchmark event. Results show that, as expected, orbital degradation is more severe for the most intense storms. Additionally, results clearly point out that the time duration of the storm is strongly associated with storm time orbital drag effects, being as important as or even more important than storm intensity itself. The most extreme storm time decays during CHAMP/GRACE‐like sample satellite orbits estimated for the March 1989 magnetic superstorm show that long‐lasting superstorms can have highly detrimental consequences for the orbital dynamics of satellites in LEO. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-50adbe722d7a41328660ef464fd7d3ad |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1542-7390 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
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| series | Space Weather |
| spelling | doaj-art-50adbe722d7a41328660ef464fd7d3ad2025-01-14T16:30:47ZengWileySpace Weather1542-73902020-11-011811n/an/a10.1029/2020SW002472Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic SuperstormsDenny M. Oliveira0Eftyhia Zesta1Hisashi Hayakawa2Ankush Bhaskar3Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute University of Maryland, Baltimore County Baltimore MD USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USAInstitute for Advanced Researches Nagoya University Nagoya JapanNASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD USAAbstract Understanding extreme space weather events is of paramount importance in efforts to protect technological systems in space and on the ground. Particularly in the thermosphere, the subsequent extreme magnetic storms can pose serious threats to low Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft by intensifying errors in orbit predictions. Extreme magnetic storms (minimum Dst ≤ −250 nT) are extremely rare: Only seven events occurred during the era of spacecraft with high‐level accelerometers such as CHAMP (CHAllenge Minisatellite Payload) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate experiment) and none with minimum Dst ≤ −500 nT, here termed magnetic superstorms. Therefore, current knowledge of thermospheric mass density response to superstorms is very limited. Thus, in order to advance this knowledge, four known magnetic superstorms in history, that is, events occurring before CHAMP's and GRACE's commission times, with complete data sets, are used to empirically estimate density enhancements and subsequent orbital drag. The November 2003 magnetic storm (minimum Dst = −422 nT), the most extreme event observed by both satellites, is used as the benchmark event. Results show that, as expected, orbital degradation is more severe for the most intense storms. Additionally, results clearly point out that the time duration of the storm is strongly associated with storm time orbital drag effects, being as important as or even more important than storm intensity itself. The most extreme storm time decays during CHAMP/GRACE‐like sample satellite orbits estimated for the March 1989 magnetic superstorm show that long‐lasting superstorms can have highly detrimental consequences for the orbital dynamics of satellites in LEO.https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002472historical datamagnetic superstormsthermosphere densitysatellite orbital drag |
| spellingShingle | Denny M. Oliveira Eftyhia Zesta Hisashi Hayakawa Ankush Bhaskar Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic Superstorms Space Weather historical data magnetic superstorms thermosphere density satellite orbital drag |
| title | Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic Superstorms |
| title_full | Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic Superstorms |
| title_fullStr | Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic Superstorms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic Superstorms |
| title_short | Estimating Satellite Orbital Drag During Historical Magnetic Superstorms |
| title_sort | estimating satellite orbital drag during historical magnetic superstorms |
| topic | historical data magnetic superstorms thermosphere density satellite orbital drag |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2020SW002472 |
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