Stochastic Methods in the Dynamics of Satellites

The librational motion of a satellite depends on the gravity gradient, aerodynamic, and mag- netic torques, on the moments of inertia of the satel- lite and on some less significant influences as solar radiation, the electrical field of the earth, the me- teorite impacts. Only the gravity gradient torque can be considered with a great degree of accuracy as dete£ ministic. Aerodynamic and magnetic torques can be treated as deterministic quantities only in a very rough first approximation. In reality these torques always have stochastic components caused by the fluc- tuations of the atmospheric density and the earth's magnetic field.
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