Orbital Elements

 Orbital Elements:

• Earth-orbiting artificial satellites are defined by six orbital elements referred to as the keplerian element set.  

• Two of these, the semimajor axis a and the eccentricity e, give the shape of the ellipse.  

• A third, the mean anomaly M0, gives the position of the satellite in its orbit at a reference time known as the epoch.

•  A fourth, the argument of perigee, gives the rotation of the orbit’s perigee point relative to the orbit’s line of nodes in the earth’s equatorial plane.  

• The remaining two elements, the inclination i and the right ascension of the ascending node, relate the orbital plane’s position to the earth

Apogee and Perigee Heights:

• The length of the radius vectors at apogee and perigee can be obtained from the geometry of the ellipse: 

• In order to find the apogee and perigee heights, the radius of the earth must be subtracted from the radii lengths, as shown in the following example.

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