Effect of solar pressure on the motion and stability of the system of two inter-connected satellites in an elliptical orbit

The effect of solar pressure on the motion and stability of a system of two interconnected satellites (such as a manned-space capsule attached to its booster with a flexible and inextensible string near some equilibrium position) is investigated analytically for the case of elliptical orbit. In this model, which is based on the work of Beletsky (1965, 1969), Singh (1973), and Sinha (1987), the equations of motion obtained are nonlinear and nonautomous; the solution of the system was obtained using Bogoliubov et al. (1961) method. The results indicate that the amplitude of the system remains constant up to the order of e-squared (where e denotes eccentricity). If the value of e is very small, the system will always oscillate about the position of equilibrium with tight string-like dumb- bell satellite with changing phase and constant amplitude. (I.S.)