Predicting Rise and Set of an Earth Satellite

Three MATLAB scripts for predicting rise and set of an Earth satellite relative to an observer or ground site on an oblate Earth.

This submission contains three MATLAB scripts that can be used to determine rise and set conditions of Earth satellites relative to an observer or ground site on an oblate Earth. The user can specify a minimum elevation or “mask” angle for each simulation. The first script, riseset1, propagates a satellite’s orbit using Kozai’s method. The second MATLAB script, riseset2, propagates a satellite’s orbit using numerical integration. The third script, riseset3, uses the method described in “Fast Orbit Propagator for Graphical Display”, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, Vol. 14, No. 2, March-April 1991, by F. Landis Markley and James F. Jeletic.

All scripts use a combination of one-dimensional minimization and root-finding to calculate visibility conditions.