Brouwer's satellite solution redux (Q2052953)

The classical Brouwer analytical solution to the main problem in the artificial satellite problem (also called the \(J_2\) problem) is analyzed. Contrary to the classical approach, in which a sequence of canonical transformations is carried out to end up with the completely reduced Hamiltonian, the author shows that the same solution can indeed be obtained with just one canonical transformation by applying the well known Lie-Deprit formalism and judiciously choosing the integration constants along the way. Moreover, by comparing both procedures, it is shown that the new method (with only one transformation) is computationally more amenable with the chosen implementation. Although the reason for this improved behavior is not completely clear, it might well be the case that the proposed technique could also be advantageous in the perturbative treatment of other relevant problems arising in celestial mechanics.