Publications related to the GRACE Missions (no abstracts)

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Investigation of Gas-Surface Interactions and Neutral Atmospheric Properties and Their Impact on Satellite Drag Coefficients

Dey, Soumyajit, Anderson, Phillip C., Bukowski, Aaron L., and Pilinski, Marcin D., 2025. Investigation of Gas-Surface Interactions and Neutral Atmospheric Properties and Their Impact on Satellite Drag Coefficients. Earth and Space Science, 12(5):e2024EA003998, doi:10.1029/2024EA003998.

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@ARTICLE{2025ESS...1203998D,
       author = {{Dey}, Soumyajit and {Anderson}, Phillip C. and {Bukowski}, Aaron L. and {Pilinski}, Marcin D.},
        title = "{Investigation of Gas-Surface Interactions and Neutral Atmospheric Properties and Their Impact on Satellite Drag Coefficients}",
      journal = {Earth and Space Science},
     keywords = {thermosphere: composition and chemistry, neutral particles, satellite drag},
         year = 2025,
        month = may,
       volume = {12},
       number = {5},
          eid = {e2024EA003998},
        pages = {e2024EA003998},
     abstract = "{Changes in the thermospheric composition and temperature influence
        satellite drag coefficients through functional dependencies in
        the closed-form solutions, and gas-surface interactions via
        accommodation coefficients. This study investigates drag
        coefficient variations for the Gravity Recovery And Climate
        Experiment (GRACE) and Communications/Navigation Outage
        Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellites under varying atmospheric
        conditions and satellite orientations. The closed-form solutions
        of Diffuse Reflection and Incomplete Accommodation (DRIA) and
        Cercignani-Lampis-Lord (CLL) gas-surface interaction models have
        been used to calculate the drag coefficients. The momentum and
        energy accommodation coefficients, derived using empirical
        models, are used as input variables in the closed-form solutions
        to specify the nature of the gas-surface interactions. The
        results provide a realistic view of drag coefficient variations
        for the atmospheric changes observed for low-Earth orbit
        satellites. The analysis reveals that increasing the atomic
        oxygen mole fraction leads to significant decreases in the drag
        coefficients, with CLL showing greater variability than DRIA.
        The variability of the drag coefficients with neutral
        temperature demonstrates a strong dependence on satellite
        shapes, with GRACE drag coefficients increasing with temperature
        while C/NOFS drag coefficients decrease. Analysis of the C/NOFS
        orbits demonstrates drastic changes in the gas-surface
        interactions, transitioning from oxygen-dominated diffuse
        scattering at lower altitudes to helium-dominated quasi-specular
        interactions at higher altitudes. These variations persist
        during the September 2011 geomagnetic storm, with slightly
        reduced drag coefficients during storm-time conditions compared
        to quiet periods. The GRACE drag coefficients are highly
        sensitive to pitch and yaw angle variations, while the C/NOFS
        drag coefficients show minimal sensitivity due to its more
        symmetrical geometry.}",
          doi = {10.1029/2024EA003998},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025E&SS...1203998D},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

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