Hi John,
A 100 % correlation between the decay rate and the daily solar flux values is not to be expected. But there is a relation with the longer term average solar flux values.
Furthermore, not only the solar flux (actually the UV radiation levels) but also variations in the solar wind, in combination with the polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field, influence the decay rate.
73, Nico PA0DLO
On 2011-11-28 23:11, John Heath wrote:
Hi Nico,
Good to see postings on this topic.
I plotted daily change in Mean Motion, and then plotted Solar Flux for the same period. (15days). It'snot obvious from the shapes of the two graphs that SF is producing the daily variation. I tried the correlation function in Excel which returned a figure of -0.54 for the two data sets. ( 1= perfect correlation)
Fairly new to "orbital decay predictions" so would be interested in any comments you may have, or anyone else on the list who is knowledeable on this subject.
73 John G7HIA
From: Nico Janssenhamsat@xs4all.nl To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Monday, 28 November 2011, 20:36 Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: ARISSat-1 (37772) decay
Hi,
With its relatively high area to mass ratio, ARISSat 1 is quite sensitive to space weather changes. In the past two weeks solar flux values have been relatively low, around 140, while they were around 180 in the weeks before. Also there have not been any magnetic storms.
As a result of this low solar activity, the expected decay date of ARISSat 1 has now slipped to the end of December. My current prediction is 27 December. But if solar activity stays at these low levels, the decay date will even shift into early January. So it is still too early to make any sensible predictions.
73, Nico PA0DLO
On 2011-11-18 15:05, Nico Janssen wrote:
Hi,
So far all my analyses of the evolution of the orbit of ARISSat 1 have resulted in a predicted decay date sometime in December 2011. Actually my current predicted decay date for this satellite is December 17. Obviously it depends very much on how solar activity develops in the coming weeks.
So now we have seen decay predictions ranging from December 2011 to April 2012. Let's see how we converge to the actual decay date.
73, Nico PA0DLO
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb