Investigation of Solar Radiation Pressure on HAMR Objects

ABSTRACT These High area-to-mass ratio (HAMR) objects are a new class of debris objects that have been found in GEO-like orbits with high eccentricities. It is speculated that these objects originated from satellites in GEO and migrated to their current orbits. This migration is likely due to perturbations that have a strong impact on HAMR objects because of their high area and low mass. Solar radiation pressure (SRP), in particular, strongly affects HAMR objects and can cause large variations in eccentricity and inclination over time. Several studies observing and modeling HAMR objects have noted these changes in eccentricity and inclination, and also the periodic behavior of these elements due to the rotation of the Earth about the Sun. Models for HAMR object behavior are currently insufficient, and better knowledge of these orbits is needed due to their close proximity with the highly populated GEO regime. The current research utilizes a simple model for the acceleration due to SRP to model the changes in orbital elements over time for HAMR objects. The results are compared to previous studies and are found to agree well with higher fidelity models as well as observations of HAMR objects. The model is also used to propagate HAMR object orbits with a varying area-to-mass ratio over time. These results confirm that the area-tomass ratio has a very strong impact on the way the orbital parameters vary with time. Keywords: High Area-to-Mass Ratio (HAMR), Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP), Perturbations, Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO).