Abstract
ANALYSIS of satellite orbits has provided a fairly complete picture of upper atmosphere density at heights between 170 and 1,200 km, embodied, for example1, in the COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere 1965. At heights below 170 km, however, very few absolute values of air density have been obtained from orbital analysis, because satellites with perigee heights below 160 km usually decay quickly and have not yielded many useful data. Numerous measurements of air density have been made at heights between 80 and 110 km, by falling spheres ejected from rockets and other techniques. But the launchings are fewer and most of the techniques are less accurate above about 120 km. So the height range between 120 and 170 km has remained relatively uncharted.
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References
CIRA 1965 (COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere 1965) (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1965).
Champion, K. S. W., AFCRL in Space, chap. 7 (Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Bedford, Mass., 1967).
King-Hele, D. G., and Walker, D. M. C., RAE Tech. Rep. 68260 (1968).
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KING-HELE, D., WALKER, D. Profile of Upper Atmosphere Density at Heights between 130 and 160 km, from the Orbit of the Satellite 1968–59B. Nature 220, 775 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/220775a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/220775a0
