SZ-5 Cabin’s Height Changes during Three Super-storms in 2003

In this work,the daily height variations of SZ-5(Shenzhou-5) cabin from 22 October to 28 November in 2003 are analyzed,which includes the period of the Halloween Storm and the Great November Storm.The significant orbital decays have been observed at the end of October and in late November due to the great solar flares and the severe geomagnetic storms.According to the equation of the air-drag-force on a spacecraft and the SZ-5 orbital decay information,the relative daily average thermospheric density changes during the three 2003 super-storms are derived and the results are compared with the Naval Research Laboratory Mass Spectrometer Incoherent Scatter Radar Extended Model(NRLMSISE-00).The results show that the daily average thermospheric density(at the altitude of SZ-5,about 350 km) in storm time enhances to approximately 200% as much as that in the quiet time but the empirical model may somewhat underestimate the average thermospheric density changes and the daily contributions of geomagnetic storms to the density enhancements during these severe space weather events.