Statistical Study of Uncontrolled Geostationary Satellites near an Unstable Equilibrium Point

What is it about?

We perform accurate simulations of the long-term natural evolution of the orbits of geostationary satellites to acquire insight into the occurrence and causes of observed irregular dynamical behaviors of satellites that are no longer operational and drift uncontrolled. We find that the perturbations caused by the Sun and the Moon in combination with specific features of the Earth's gravity field are responsible for the phenomena.

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