Effects of Optical and Geometrical Properties on YORP Effect for Inactive Satellites

The exponential growth of the amount of space debris found in Earth orbit has made it crucial to understand the dynamics and long term behavior of these objects. A number of observations of inactive satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) demonstrate that the rotational periods of these objects are evolving over time. Furthermore, this evolution can vary from satellite to satellite. The YarkovskyO’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddak (YORP) effect has been shown to be the cause of the changing rotational dynamics of asteroids and has recently been introduced as a possible explanation for the observed changes in rotational period of inactive satellites in GEO. This effect however, is very dependent on optical, thermal and geometrical parameters of a satellite. This paper studies the sensitivity of the torques created by the YORP effect to changes in these parameters. This sensitivity analysis is used to determine possible long term behaviors for inactive satellites.