The force due to radiation pressure on a satellite of
arbitrary shape is written in a general form within a formalism
similar to that used in the theory of radiative transfer in
atmospheres. Then the corresponding integrals are evaluated for the
simple case of a spherically symmetric satellite, and applied to model
the perturbation due to the Earth--reflected radiation flux on LAGEOS.
For this purpose, the optical behaviour of the Earth's surface and
atmosphere is described as a combination of Lambertian diffusion
(continents), partial specular reflection consistent with Fresnel law
(oceans) and anisotropic diffusion according to Chandrasekhar's
radiative transfer theory (clouds).
The in--plane Gauss components
$T$ and $S$ vs. mean anomaly are computed for a simple orbital
geometry and for different models of the Earth's optical properties.
A sensitive dependence is found on the assumed cloud distribution,
with significant perturbations possibly arising from oceanic specular
reflection when the satellite is close to the Earth's shadow
boundaries.
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