卫星与测站钟差支持条件下的GEO卫星精密定轨

在基于伪距的GEO卫星精密定轨中, GEO卫星的静地特性导致定轨解算无法对星地组合钟差进行有效估计, 需要独立的时间同步支持. 本文讨论了卫星和测站钟差支持条件下的GEO卫星定轨原理, 利用仿真数据系统地分析了中国区域网跟踪条件下GEO卫星的定轨精度, 从定性和定量角度分析了钟差二次项、星地时间同步精度、站间时间同步精度及系统差等因素对定轨精度的影响.     

基于COSMIC掩星精密定轨数据的等离子体层电子含量研究

等离子体层是日地环境重要的组成部分.本文利用COSMIC掩星精密定轨数据经处理后得到的podTec文件获取等离子体层电子含量（PEC）对等离子体层进行研究.将podTec数据进行处理后获得的PEC（pod-PEC）和IRI-Plas经验模型提供的PEC （IRI-PEC）进行对比,发现pod-PEC与IRI-PEC符合得较好.在低（0°—20°）、中（20°—50°）、高（50°—90°）修正地磁纬度带下,分析了COSMIC在太阳活动极大年（2014年）3,6,9和12月的pod-PEC,得到如下结论：PEC随着纬度升高而逐渐减少,且3,9月PEC在中低纬关于磁赤道的南北对称性较好,6月北半球各纬度带的PEC明显高于南半球同一纬度带的值,而12月情况则完全相反,南半球中纬的PEC甚至会等于北半球低纬的PEC值;PEC在白天高而晚上低,高纬地区的PEC昼夜变化不明显;PEC具有明显的季节性.对于北半球,一年中PEC最大值出现在春季,冬秋季次之,夏季最低,具有明显的年度异常现象.     

基于单频星载GPS数据的低轨卫星精密定轨

为满足搭载单频GPS接收机低轨卫星的精密定轨需求以及深化单频定轨研究,文中解决了单频星载GPS数据的周跳探测问题,并利用“海洋二号”（HY-2A）卫星及“资源三号”（ZY-3）卫星的单频星载GPS实测数据采用两种方法确定了二者的简化动力学轨道,并通过观测值残差分析、与双频精密轨道比较、激光测卫数据检核等方法对所得轨道精度进行评定。结果表明,在不考虑电离层延迟影响的情况下,HY-2A卫星定轨精度为2~3dm,ZY-3卫星为1m左右;而采用半和改正组合消除电离层延迟一阶项影响后,二者定轨精度均显著提高,HY-2A卫星三维精度提高至1dm左右,ZY-3卫星提高至1~2dm。文章的研究成果表明,搭载单频GPS接收机的低轨卫星也可获得厘米级的定轨精度。     

DORIS geodesy: A dynamic determination of geocentre location

Geoscience Australia contributed a multi-satellite, multi-year weekly time series to the International DORIS Service combined submission for the construction of International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2008 (ITRF2008). This contributing solution was extended to a study of the capability of DORIS to dynamically estimate the variation in the geocentre location. Two solutions, comprising different constraint configurations of the tracking network, were undertaken. The respective DORIS satellite orbit solutions (SPOT-2, SPOT-4, SPOT-5 and Envisat) were verified and validated by comparison with those produced at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), DORIS Analysis Centre, for computational consistency and standards. In addition, in the case of Envisat, the trajectories from the GA determined SLR and DORIS orbits were compared. The results for weekly dynamic geocentre estimates from the two constraint configurations were benchmarked against the geometric geocentre estimates from the IDS-2 combined solution. This established that DORIS is capable of determining the dynamic geocentre variation by estimating the degree one spherical harmonic coefficients of the Earth’s gravity potential. It was established that constrained configurations produced similar results for the geocentre location and consequently similar annual amplitudes. For the minimally constrained configuration Greenbelt–Kitab, the mean of the uncertainties of the geocentre location were 2.3, 2.3 and 7.6 mm and RMS of the mean uncertainties were 1.9, 1.2 and 3.5 mm for the X, Y and Z components, respectively. For GA_IDS-2_Datum constrained configuration, the mean of the uncertainties of the geocentre location were 1.7, 1.7 and 6.2 mm and RMS of the mean uncertainties were 0.9, 0.7 and 2.9 mm for the X, Y and Z components, respectively. The mean of the differences of the two DORIS dynamic geocentre solutions with respect to the IDS-2 combination were 1.6, 4.0 and 5.1 mm with an RMS of the mean 21.2, 14.0 and 31.5 mm for the Greenbelt–Kitab configuration and 4.1, 3.9 and 4.3 mm with an RMS 8.1, 9.0 and 28.6 mm for the GA_IDS-2_Datum constraint configuration. The annual amplitudes for each component were estimated to be 5.3, 10.8 and 11.0 mm for the Greenbelt–Kitab configuration and 5.3, 9.3 and 9.4 mm for the GA_IDS-2_Datum constraint configuration. The two DORIS determined dynamic geocentre solutions were compared to the SLR determined dynamic solution (which was determined from the same process of the GA contribution to the ITRF2008 ILRS combination) gave mean differences of 3.3, −4.7 and 2.5 mm with an RMS of 20.7, 17.5 and 28.0 mm for the X, Y and Z components, respectively for the Greenbelt–Kitab configuration and 1.1, −5.4 and 4.4 mm with an RMS of 9.7, 13.3 and 24.9 mm for the GA_IDS-2_Datum configuration. The larger variability is reflected in the respective amplitudes. As a comparison, the annual amplitudes of the SLR determined dynamic geocentre are 0.9, 1.0 and 6.8 mm in the X, Y and Z components. The results from this study indicate that there is potential to achieve precise dynamically determined geocentre from DORIS.     

Adjustable box-wing model for solar radiation pressure impacting GPS satellites

One of the major uncertainty sources affecting Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite orbits is the direct solar radiation pressure. In this paper a new model for the solar radiation pressure on GPS satellites is presented that is based on a box-wing satellite model, and assumes nominal attitude. The box-wing model is based on the physical interaction between solar radiation and satellite surfaces, and can be adjusted to fit the GPS tracking data.     

Proposal of application of same beam VLBI measurements in precision orbit determination of lunar orbiter and return capsule and lunar gravity field simulation in Chang’E-3 mission

High accuracy differenced phase delay can be obtained by observing multiple point frequencies of two spacecraft using the same beam Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) technology. Its contribution in lunar spacecraft precision orbit determination has been performed during the Japanese lunar exploration mission SELENE. In consideration that there will be an orbiter and a return capsule flying around the moon during the Chinese lunar exploration future mission Chang’E-3, the contributions of the same beam VLBI in spacecraft precision orbit determination and lunar gravity field solution have been investigated. Our results show that the accuracy of precision orbit determination can be improved more than one order of magnitude after including the same beam VLBI measurements. There are significant improvements in accuracy of low and medium degree coefficients of lunar gravity field model obtained from combination of two way range and Doppler and the same beam VLBI measurements than the one that only uses two way range and Doppler data, and the accuracy of precision orbit determination can reach meter level.     

GPS single-frequency orbit determination for low Earth orbiting satellites

The determination of high-precision orbits for Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellites (e.g., CHAMP, GRACE, MetOp-A) is based on dual-frequency tracking data from on-board GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers. The two frequencies allow it to eliminate the first order ionosphere effects. Data screening and precise orbit determination (POD) procedures are optimized under the assumption of the availability of two frequencies.     

The International DORIS Service (IDS): Toward maturity

DORIS is one of the four space-geodetic techniques participating in the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS), particularly to maintain and disseminate the Terrestrial Reference Frame as determined by International Earth rotation and Reference frame Service (IERS). A few years ago, under the umbrella of the International Association of Geodesy, a DORIS International Service (IDS) was created in order to foster international cooperation and to provide new scientific products. This paper addresses the organizational aspects of the IDS and presents some recent DORIS scientific results. It is for the first time that, in preparation of the ITRF2008, seven Analysis Centers (AC’s) contributed to derive long-term time series of DORIS stations positions. These solutions were then combined into a homogeneous time series IDS-2 for which a precision of less than 10 mm was obtained. Orbit comparisons between the various AC’s showed an excellent agreement in the radial component, both for the SPOT satellites (e.g. 0.5–2.1 cm RMS for SPOT-2) and Envisat (0.9–2.1 cm RMS), using different software packages, models, corrections and analysis strategies. There is now a wide international participation within IDS that should lead to future improvements in DORIS analysis strategies and DORIS-derived geodetic products.     

2016HO3探测任务星载光学观测量建模及定轨

以中国首次小行星探测任务为背景,根据星载相机获取的光学影像构造三种观测量,分别为小行星相对于航天器的高度角和方位角、赤经赤纬以及探测器与行星/小行星之间的夹角,分析了其在探测器定轨中的作用。仿真定轨结果表明,观测时长为100 h,探测器三轴位置误差小于50 km,满足工程上对巡航段的轨道精度要求,但x和y方向的位置和速度分量具有较强自相关性。此外还发现,使用单一观测数据类型比联合观测量的定轨精度低3~4个量级,第三类观测量相对于其他两类观测量在定轨精度方面具有显著作用,这表明在2016HO3探测中,利用太阳系大天体的位置信息有助于约束探测器轨道,提高探测器的定轨精度。     

Performance of GPS-based accelerometry: A simulation experiment

Recent studies have shown that with the availability of high-quality CHAMP and GRACE gravity field models, it is feasible to determine accurate non-gravitational accelerations for low Earth orbiting satellites indirectly from precise GPS satellite-to-satellite observations. Possible applications of this so-called GPS-based accelerometry approach consist of accelerometer calibration and atmospheric density and wind computations. With the growing number of high-quality space-borne GPS receivers, this method could be applied to a large range of satellites. In this paper an extensive simulation study has been carried out, based on real accelerometer data from the GRACE mission, in order to determine the optimal processing strategy and the resulting accuracy of the estimated non-gravitational accelerations. It is shown that the optimal processing strategy consists of a piecewise linear parameterization of the estimated empirical accelerations, together with short 6-h orbit arcs. The GPS-based accelerometry approach makes use of triple-differenced GPS observations and the impact of considering the correlated observation noise was found to be marginal in the presence of other error sources such as GPS ephemeris errors. Using a priori non-gravitational force models improves the recovery of low temporal resolution accelerations, except during huge geomagnetic storms. With this strategy, non-gravitational accelerations can be recovered during high solar activity with an accuracy of better than 10% of the total signal in along-track direction and around 25–40% in cross-track direction, at time resolutions of around 8–20 min. During solar minimum conditions, the relative recovery error will increase to approximately 50% in along-track direction and around 60–70% in cross-track direction, due to the reduced atmospheric drag signal. Unfortunately, GPS-based accelerometry is hardly sensitive in the radial direction.     

Precise orbit determination using the batch filter based on particle filtering with genetic resampling approach

In this study, genetic resampling (GRS) approach is utilized for precise orbit determination (POD) using the batch filter based on particle filtering (PF). Two genetic operations, which are arithmetic crossover and residual mutation, are used for GRS of the batch filter based on PF (PF batch filter). For POD, Laser-ranging Precise Orbit Determination System (LPODS) and satellite laser ranging (SLR) observations of the CHAMP satellite are used. Monte Carlo trials for POD are performed by one hundred times. The characteristics of the POD results by PF batch filter with GRS are compared with those of a PF batch filter with minimum residual resampling (MRRS). The post-fit residual, 3D error by external orbit comparison, and POD repeatability are analyzed for orbit quality assessments. The POD results are externally checked by NASA JPL’s orbits using totally different software, measurements, and techniques. For post-fit residuals and 3D errors, both MRRS and GRS give accurate estimation results whose mean root mean square (RMS) values are at a level of 5 cm and 10–13 cm, respectively. The mean radial orbit errors of both methods are at a level of 5 cm. For POD repeatability represented as the standard deviations of post-fit residuals and 3D errors by repetitive PODs, however, GRS yields 25% and 13% more robust estimation results than MRRS for post-fit residual and 3D error, respectively. This study shows that PF batch filter with GRS approach using genetic operations is superior to PF batch filter with MRRS in terms of robustness in POD with SLR observations.     

Precision orbit determination performance for CryoSat-2

In this paper we discuss our efforts to perform precision orbit determination (POD) of CryoSat-2 which depends on Doppler and satellite laser ranging tracking data. A dynamic orbit model is set-up and the residuals between the model and the tracking data is evaluated. The average r.m.s. of the 10?s averaged Doppler tracking pass residuals is approximately 0.39?mm/s; and the average of the laser tracking pass residuals becomes 1.42?cm. There are a number of other tests to verify the quality of the orbit solution, we compare our computed orbits against three independent external trajectories provided by the CNES. The CNES products are part of the CryoSat-2 products distributed by ESA. The radial differences of our solution relative to the CNES precision orbits shows an average r.m.s. of 1.25?cm between Jun-2010 and Apr-2017. The SIRAL altimeter crossover difference statistics demonstrate that the quality of our orbit solution is comparable to that of the POE solution computed by the CNES. In this paper we will discuss three important changes in our POD activities that have brought the orbit performance to this level. The improvements concern the way we implement temporal gravity accelerations observed by GRACE; the implementation of ITRF2014 coordinates and velocities for the DORIS beacons and the SLR tracking sites. We also discuss an adjustment of the SLR retroreflector position within the satellite reference frame. An unexpected result is that we find a systematic difference between the median of the 10 s Doppler tracking residuals which displays a statistically significant pattern in the South Atlantic Anomaly (SSA) area where the median of the velocity residuals varies in the range of ?0.15 to +0.15?mm/s.     

DORIS processing at the European Space Operations Centre

This paper gives an overview of the DORIS related activities at the Navigation Support Office of the European Space Operations Centre. The DORIS activities were started in 2002 because of the launch of the Envisat satellite where ESOC is responsible for the validation of the Envisat Precise Orbits and a brief overview of the key Envisat activities at ESOC is given. Typical orbit comparison RMS values between the CNES POE (GDR-C) and the ESOC POD solution is 6.5, 18.8 and 23.1 mm in radial-, along- and cross-track direction. In the framework of the generation of the ITRF2008 ESOC participated in the reprocessing of all three space geodetic techniques; DORIS, SLR, and GPS. Here the main results of our DORIS reprocessing, in the framework of the International DORIS Service (IDS), are given. The WRMS of the weekly ESOC solution (esawd03) for the 2004–2009 period compared to the IDS-1 combined solution is of the order of 12 mm. Based on the long time series of homogeneously processed data a closer look is taken at the estimated solar radiation pressure parameters of the different satellites used in this DORIS analysis. The main aim being the stabilization of the Z-component of the geocentre estimates. We conclude that the ESOC participation to the IDS ITRF2008 contribution has been beneficial for both ESOC and the IDS. ESOC has profited significantly from the very open and direct communications and comparisons that took place within the IDS during the reprocessing campaign.     

Precise orbit determination and baseline consistency assessment for Swarm constellation

Precise orbit determination (POD) and precise baseline determination (PBD) of Swarm satellites with 4 years of data are investigated. Ambiguity resolution (AR) plays a crucial role in achieving the best orbit accuracy. Swarm POD and PBD based on single difference (SD) AR and traditional double difference (DD) AR methods are explored separately. Swarm antenna phase center variation (PCV) corrections are developed to further improve the orbit determination accuracy. The code multipath of C1C, C1W and C2W observations is first evaluated and clear variations in code noise related to different receiver settings are observed. Carrier phase residuals of different time periods and different loop tracking settings of receiver are studied to explore the effect of ionospheric scintillation on POD. The reduction of residuals in the polar and geomagnetic equator regions confirms the positive impact of the updated carrier tracking loops (TLs) on POD performance. The SD AR orbits and orbits with float ambiguity (FA) are compared with the Swarm precise science orbits (PSOs). An average improvement of 27 %, 4 % and 16 % is gained in along-track, cross-track and radial directions by fixing the ambiguity to integer. For Swarm-A/B and Swarm-B/C formations, specific days are selected to perform the DD AR-based POD during which the average distance of the formation satellites is less than 5000 km. Satellite laser ranging (SLR) observations are employed to validate the performance of FA, SD AR and DD AR orbits. The consistency between the SD AR orbits and SLR data is at a level of 10 mm which shows an improvement of 25 % when comparing with the FA results. An SLR residuals reduction of 15 % is also achieved by the DD AR solution for the selected days. Precise relative navigation is also an essential aspect for spacecraft formation flying missions. The closure error method is proposed to evaluate the baseline precision in three dimensions. A baseline precision of 1–3 mm for Swarm-A/C formation and 3–5 mm for Swarm-A/B and Swarm-B/C satellite pairs is verified by both the consistency check and closure error method.