GEOM 315: SATELLITE GEODESY

Presented By

Basant Awasthi
basant.awasthi@ku.edu.np
 Basic Terms
 Two-Body Problem
 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
 Kepler’s first law
 Kepler’s second law
 Kepler’s third law

 Newtonian Mechanics

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 Gravity provides the force needed to maintain the stable orbit of both planets
around a star and also of moons and artificial satellites around a planet.

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 An orbit is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another
one. An object in an orbit is called a satellite. (NASA)
 Earth and many other bodies including asteroids, comets, and the other planet,
move around the sun in curved paths called orbits. Generally, the orbits are
elliptical, or oval, in shape.

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 The point at which a planet is closest to the sun is called perihelion.
 The farthest point is called aphelion.

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 The point of the orbit closest to Earth is called perigee, while the point farthest
from Earth is known as apogee.

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 Given at any time the positions and velocities of two particles of known mass
moving under their mutual gravitational force calculate their positions and
velocities at any other time.

Two Body Problem

(Described empirically)

Kepler’s Laws

Newtonian
Mechanics
(Derived analytically)

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Who is Johannes Kepler?

 German mathematician, physicist, and astronomer

 Worked under Tycho Brahe

 Observation alone

 Founder of celestial mechanics

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 Law of Orbits
 All planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits, with the Sun as one focus of the
ellipse.

 Law of Areas
 The line connecting the Sun to a planet sweeps equal areas in equal times.

 Law of Periods
 The square of the orbital period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major
axis of the ellipse.

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 All planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits, with the Sun as one focus of the
ellipse.

Nothing lies on
other focus

Aphelion

Perihelion

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  A radius vector (imaginary) joining any planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in
equal lengths of time.

A1 = A2 = A3
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𝐴𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚 𝐿 = 𝑚𝑣𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑅𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝑚𝑣𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑚𝑣𝑅
 The square of the time period of the planet is directly proportional to the cube of
the semi major axis of its orbit.

𝑇 2 ∝ 𝑎3

where, T = orbital period

a = semi-major axis
(average distance from the Sun;
average of perihelion and aphelion)

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The value of T2/R3 is nearly same.

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 No external perturbing forces are present.
 The respective masses can be considered to be point masses or homogeneous
bodies with spherical mass distribution.
 Keplerian orbits, consequently, can only be used as a simple reference orbit and
they give only qualitative information on the kind of motion.
 Kepler himself was convinced that his three, empirically found, laws followed a
more general law. This more general law was formulated by Isaac Newton (1643–
1727) in the form of the Law of Gravitation.

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In the first book of “Principia” Newton introduced his
three laws of motion:
 Every body continues in its state of rest or of uniform
motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change
that state by an external impressed force.
 The rate of change of momentum of the body is
proportional to the force impressed and is in the same
direction in which the force acts.
𝑑𝑣
F= m = 𝑚𝑎
𝑑𝑡
 To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

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Sputnik 1

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1. What happens to a planet's orbital speed as it approaches its farthest point from
the Sun and as it approaches its closest point? How is it related to angular
momentum?
2. How were Kepler's laws of planetary motion revolutionary or a radical break
from earlier descriptions of planetary motion?
3. What is the role of Kepler’s laws?
4. Suppose a small planet is discovered that is 14 times as far from the sun as the
Earth's distance is from the sun (1.5 x 1011 m). Use Kepler's law of harmonies
(periods) to predict the orbital period of such a planet. GIVEN: T 2/R3 = 2.97 x 10-
19 s2/m3.

Deadline: 3 July, 2020

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Thank you for your attention.

Any Queries?

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