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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

DPOD2014: A new DORIS extension of ITRF2014 for precise orbit determination

To support precise orbit determination of the altimetry missions, the International DORIS Service (IDS) regularly estimates the DPOD (DORIS terrestrial reference frame for Precise Orbit Determination) solution which includes mean positions and velocities of all the DORIS stations. This solution is aligned to the current realization of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) and so, can be seen as a DORIS extension of the ITRF. In 2016, moving to the IDS Combination Center, the DPOD construction scheme changed. The new DPOD solution is produced from a DORIS cumulative position and velocity solution. We present the new methodology used to compute DPOD2014 and its validation procedure. In order to present geophysical applications and interpretations of these results, we show two examples: (1) the Gorkha earthquake (M7.8 – April 2015) generates a 3-D mis-positioning of nearly 55?mm of the EVEB DORIS station at the Everest base camp 90?km from the epicenter. (2) Applying the results the DPOD2014 realization, we show that the most recent vertical velocity of Thule, Greenland is similar to that observed between 2006 and 2010, indicating further ongoing ice mass loss in the Thule region of northwest Greenland.     

Quality Assessment of the IDS Contribution to ITRF2008

Doppler Orbitography Radiopositionning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) is one of the four fundamental techniques contributing to the ITRF. The optimal coverage over the globe of the DORIS observing sites and sites co-located with GPS, allow a strong embedding of DORIS within the ITRF network. DORIS contributes to the access to ITRF through precise orbit determination of altimetric satellites with onboard DORIS receivers. The DORIS contribution to the ITRF2008 is enhanced by the fact that the solutions of seven analysis centers were included in the submitted combined time series of weekly station positions and daily polar motion. We evaluate the quality of the DORIS combined solution in terms of its agreement with the other techniques (VLBI, SLR, GPS) contributing to the ITRF2008 combination. We show in particular that the precisions of the current IDS products range between 1.5 to 2.6 mm for station positions (at the epochs of minimum variances); better than 1 mm/yr in velocities and between 170 and 260 micro-arc-seconds for polar motion, a significant improvement by a factor of three to five, compared to past data used in the ITRF2005 combination. This improvement is certainly due to improved analysis strategies employed by the seven IDS analysis centers that contributed to the combined weekly submitted solutions of station positions and polar motion. A spectral analysis of DORIS station height time series indicates that annual and semi-annual signals are dominant. However, TOPEX draconitic period of about 118 days is still detected in about 20% of the station position power spectra. DORIS height annual signals correlate well with GPS annual signal estimated at some co-located stations, which show that DORIS technique is able to detect loading signals.     

Impact of ITRS 2014 realizations on altimeter satellite precise orbit determination

This paper evaluates orbit accuracy and systematic error for altimeter satellite precise orbit determination on TOPEX, Jason-1, Jason-2 and Jason-3 by comparing the use of four SLR/DORIS station complements from the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) 2014 realizations with those based on ITRF2008. The new Terrestrial Reference Frame 2014 (TRF2014) station complements include ITRS realizations from the Institut National de l’Information Géographique et Forestière (IGN) ITRF2014, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) JTRF2014, the Deutsche Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut (DGFI) DTRF2014, and the DORIS extension to ITRF2014 for Precise Orbit Determination, DPOD2014. The largest source of error stems from ITRF2008 station position extrapolation past the 2009 solution end time. The TRF2014 SLR/DORIS complement impact on the ITRF2008 orbit is only 1–2 mm RMS radial difference between 1992–2009, and increases after 2009, up to 5 mm RMS radial difference in 2016. Residual analysis shows that station position extrapolation error past the solution span becomes evident even after two years, and will contribute to about 3–4 mm radial orbit error after seven years. Crossover data show the DTRF2014 orbits are the most accurate for the TOPEX and Jason-2 test periods, and the JTRF2014 orbits for the Jason-1 period. However for the 2016 Jason-3 test period only the DPOD2014-based orbits show a strong and statistically significant margin of improvement. The positive results with DTRF2014 suggest the new approach to correct station positions or normal equations for non-tidal loading before combination is beneficial. We did not find any compelling POD advantage in using non-linear over linear station velocity models in our SLR & DORIS orbit tests on the Jason satellites. The JTRF2014 proof-of-concept ITRS realization demonstrates the need for improved SLR+DORIS orbit centering when compared to the Ries (2013) CM annual model. Orbit centering error is seen as an annual radial signal of 0.4 mm amplitude with the CM model. The unmodeled CM signals show roughly a 1.8 mm peak-to-peak annual variation in the orbit radial component. We find the TRF network stability pertinent to POD can be defined only by examination of the orbit-specific tracking network time series. Drift stability between the ITRF2008 and the other TRF2014-based orbits is very high, the relative mean radial drift error over water is no larger than 0.04 mm/year over 1993–2015. Analyses also show TRF induced orbit error meets current altimeter rate accuracy goals for global and regional sea level estimation.     

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。     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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。