Moritz Heger wrote: > Looking closer on the BSTAR drag value of the ISS over time, > I noticed that it is varying by around 10% with a period of > about 20 days. > > Does anyone have an explanation for that behavior? The rate of orbital decay depends strongly upon atmospheric density, which varies as the solar flux varies. The active regions on the sun that cause high solar flux are not evenly distributed, so the solar flux experienced at the Earth varies over roughly the same period as the sun's period of rotation of 27 days. Ted Molczan ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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