The motion of a lunar satellite under the influence of the moons noncentral force field

For lunar satellites within a few hundred miles of the lunar surface the primary cause of disturbance from pure Keplerian motion is the disturbing force due to the moon's noncentral gravitational field which, unlike the earth's field, is unsymmetrical and rotating. This thesis presents a first-order approximation to the motion of lunar satellites under the forces resulting from this field. The results are a set of equations which give the short period, long period and secular variations of a slightly modified set of Delauney elements. A typical set of orbital characteristics are utilized to obtain an estimate of the order of magnitude of the variations in the various elements.