Increased ephemeris accuracy using attitude-dependent aerodynamic force coefficients for inertially stabilized spacecraft

The FREEMAC program used to generate the aerodynamic coefficients, as well as associated routines that allow the results to be used in other software is described. These capabilities are applied in two numerical examples to the short-term orbit prediction of the Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spacecraft. Predictions using attitude-dependent aerodynamic coefficients were made on a modified version of the PC-based Ephemeris Generation Program (EPHGEN) and were compared to definitive orbit solutions obtained from actual tracking data. The numerical results show improvement in the predicted semi-major axis and along-track positions that would seem to be worth the added computational effort. Finally, other orbit and attitude analysis applications are noted that could profit from using FREEMAC-calculated aerodynamic coefficients, including orbital lifetime studies, orbit determination methods, attitude dynamics simulators, and spacecraft control system component sizing.