<h2>AAS  96-138</h2><h2>THE TOPEX ORBIT IN ORLOV'S PLANE AND OTHER APPLICATIONS OF ORBIT LOCAL SPHERICAL HARMONICS</h2><h4>P. J. Melvin, Naval Research Laboratory</h4><h2> Abstract </h2>This is an eclectic paper dealing with three topics.  The first is the fitting of the precise orbital ephemeris of TOPEX/POSEIDON with an analytical orbit using tesseral harmonics.  The second is analysis which relates the inversion problem of gravity gradient satellites to solar illumination and the starboard side of the spacecraft.  The third is comparison of roll-yaw libration data from gravity gradient satellites with theoretical maps of resonant phasings caused by electrostatic charge.<br><br>