Solar radiation pressure

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In astronomy, Solar radiation pressure is the force exerted by solar radiation on objects within its reach. Solar radiation pressure is of interest in astrodynamics, as it is one source of the orbital perturbations.

The disturbance force can be expressed simply as

$F_{SR} = -p_{SR}c_{R}A_{\odot}r_{\oplus\odot}$

where:

$F S R$ - Force contributed by the solar radiation pressure
$p S R$ - Force per unit area exerted by the solar radiation
$c R$ - Coefficient of reflectivity of the object
$A_{\odot}$ - Exposed area of the object to the solar radiation
$r_{\oplus\odot}$ - radial unit vector between object and the sun