Atmospheric Estimates for Drag Calculations

Welcome to the Space Surveillance and Tracking Services - Atmospheric Estimates for Drag Calculation service

Overview

The service "Space Surveillance and Tracking Services - Atmospheric Estimates for Drag Calculation" aims to provide estimates of atmospheric density. The estimates include high altitude atmospheric density estimate for the past year, atmospheric density forecast and relevant environmental data for the user to compute drag of spacecraft below 1500 km altitude. These are specific forecasts and prior estimates of thermospheric total neutral density in the altitude range 120 – 1500 km. Additionally, this service provides indices and forecasts of geomagnetic and solar activity. It also provides ionospheric forecasting and archive.

This service addresses the needs of space surveillance and tracking users. This includes primarily the users of surveillance and tracking centre(s), stations and services, spacecraft operators (also spacecraft operators service domain), collision warning services and re-entry risk assessment services.

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Highlights

Announcements

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Products and Alerts

The following products are associated with this service:

Products

Atmospheric neutral density
Neutral Density and Wind
Neutral Density and Wind

No product available in this category yet

Geomagnetic indices, forecast
Geomagnetic Indices Kp and K
Geomagnetic Index Ap and A
Geomagnetic Index Dst
Geomagnetic indices, archives and reconstruction
Geomagnetic Indices Kp and K
Geomagnetic Index Ap and A
Geomagnetic Index Dst
Solar activity, forecast
International Sunspot number
10.7cm Solar Radio Flux (F10.7)
Solar EUV Index (S10.7)

No product available in this category yet

Solar EUV Index (E10.7)

No product available in this category yet

Solar FUV Index (M10.7)

No product available in this category yet

Solar X-ray & UV Index (Y10.7)

No product available in this category yet

Solar activity, archives and reconstruction
International Sunspot number
10.7cm Solar Radio Flux (F10.7)
Solar EUV Index (S10.7)
Solar EUV Index (E10.7)

No product available in this category yet

Solar FUV Index (M10.7)
Solar X-ray & UV Index (Y10.7)
Other indices,archives and reconstruction
Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF)
Ionospheric Index (IG12)
Ionospheric density, forecast
Vertical Total Electron Content Map
3D Electron Density Grids

No product available in this category yet

Ionospheric density, archives and reconstruction
Vertical Total Electron Content Map
3D Electron Density Grids

Tools

User Manual

Introduction

The interaction between satellite and Earth’s upper atmosphere over a long period of time can significantly modify the satellite orbit. Therefore, atmospheric density models are required in the computation of the atmospheric drag force to support the determination and prediction of satellite orbits. This service provides estimates of neutral density based on an atmospheric model.

The neutral density fields are based on the semi-empirical model DTM2013, which uses solar and geomagnetic indices as input proxies of thermospheric heating. The atmospheric density service uses the following indices from ESA SWE Service Network as input to the DTM2013 model.

Solar index:

  • Forecast (FORIND): F30 Index Forecast Absolute 30-day (CLS)
  • Measured (SGIArv): F30 (absolute)

Geomagnetic index:

  • Forecast (FORIND): ap Index Forecast 3-day (BGS), Ap Index Forecast 27-day (BGS)
  • Measured (SGIArv): Definitive Ap index

Application

These services are expected to be used by a variety of users including:

  • Academics investigating and modelling the upper atmosphere
  • Commercial satellite operators
  • ESA/ESOC/S2P SST segment/Space Debris Office and Flight Dynamics
  • Third party service providers

These all feed into a wider issue of risk management for flight dynamics teams.

Key Products

Atmospheric Density Estimates for SST user (ATMDEN)

The data products provide 3D characterisation of the neutral atmosphere thorough the provision of global horizontal data-layers (2D) at a given time. The atmospheric density products consist of neutral density fields covering:

  • 3 Day forecast (based on forecast 3-hourly ap index and F30)
  • 27 Day forecast (based on forecast daily Ap and F30)
  • 12 month (prior) estimate (based on measured Ap and F30)

The atmospheric density maps are calculated at the following altitude levels: 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, 240, 260, 280, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, 600, 700, 800, 1000, 1500 km.

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Interruptions

❗ Warning: Please note that interactive functionalities of the COMESEP interface are currently disabled due to a technical issue. Users subscribed to email alerts will continue to receive alerts. New subscriptions are temporarily not possible. To change threshold settings, unsubscribe or for more information, please contact the helpdesk.

❗Due to current unavailability of the SDO input data the performance of some products is affected.

Forecast of Kp

Full product
Provided by: Swedish Institute of Space Physics

StormRisk

Full product
Provided by: DTU Space

UGraz/KSO Latest F10.7 and F30 forecasts

Full product
Provided by: Kanzelhöhe Observatory for Solar and Environmental Research