Abstract
It has been claimed that the representation of satellite motion in the vicinity of the critical inclination is a matter of practical, as well as theoretical interest, since “the perturbations in the coordinates are of the order of 25 times greater near the critical inclination than away from it” (Messageet al., 1962). In this paper we show, using Encke's method of numerical integration for satellites which are at, near, and away from the critical inclination, that there are no discernible features in the coordinate perturbations which distinguish the critical inclination from any other.
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Lubowe, A.G. How critical is the critical inclination?. Celestial Mechanics 1, 6–10 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01230627
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01230627