Step 6 - Finding the Geocentric Distance

Element	_Symbol	Value
Epoch	t_o	05:54:21.171 UTC December 16, 2007
Inclination	i	51^o.9970
R.A. of the Ascending Node	a_W₀	251^o.0219
Eccentricity	e	0.0001492
Argument of Perigee	w₀	33^o.8641
Mean Anomaly at TLE Epoch	M_o	326^o.2322
Mean Motion	n	12.62256095 orbits / solar day
Propagation Time	Dt	1.7677141 solar days
Mean Anomaly at Time t	M(t)	1.37777389 radians (78^o.940629)
True Anomaly at Time t	n(t)	78^o.95065818
Semi-major Axis	a	7791.787473 km
Perigee Distance	P	7790.624938 km

The geocentric distance of the satellite at Time t, r(t), can be found by using the following equation:

r(t) = [ P (1+e) ] / [ 1+ecosn(t) ]

Since the orbit is nearly circular (very low eccentricity), the satellite's distance from the Earth's center (r) at time t should only be slightly larger than the perigee distance:

r(t) = 7791.564499 kilometres from the Earth's Center

BACK TO STEP #5

PROCEED TO STEP #7

CASTOR HOME	SITE MAP	*ORBIT PROPAGATION*

Step 6: Finding the Geocentric Distance Was Last Modified On January 02, 2012