Dynamic orbit determination and gravity field model improvement from GPS, DORIS and Laser measurements on TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite

Summary. In the framework of the GRIM series of gravity field models, the CNES/GRGS GINS precise orbit determination software has been adapted to dynamic GPS data processing. That is simultaneous processing of all available observables (i.e. GPS, DORIS, Laser) and all available satellite orbits (i.e. GPS, TOPEX/POSEIDON) can now be performed. The TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) mission satellite is equipped with a GPS receiver, a DORIS receiver and a laser reflector that represents an unprecedented opportunity to compare and combine these three tracking systems to estimate orbital parameters and gravity field coefficients. Different combinations including : GPS + DORIS, DORIS + LASER, GPS + DORIS + LASER, have been tested and have shown small but systematic improvement in T/P orbit accuracy when GPS and DORIS data were processed simultaneously. Five tuned gravity field models have been generated by accumulating different combinations of T/P normal equations associated to the GPS, DORIS and Laser data. GPS data have a greater dynamic impact on gravity field spherical harmonics coefficient determination than DORIS and Laser data. Furthermore, the results obtained with the solutions including and T/P normal equations suggest that indeed these different tracking systems are somehow complementary in a dynamic sense. Received 30 March 1995; Accepted 19 September 1996     

Long-wavelength global gravity field models: GRIM4-S4, GRIM4-C4

Summary.  GFZ Potsdam and GRGS Toulouse/Grasse jointly developed a new pair of global models of the Earth's gravity field to satisfy the requirements of the recent and future geodetic and altimeter satellite missions. A precise gravity model is a prerequisite for precise satellite orbit restitution, tracking station positioning and altimeter data reduction. According to different applications envisaged, the new model exists in two parallel versions: the first one being derived exclusively from satellite tracking data acquired on 34 satellites, the second one further incorporating satellite altimeter data over the oceans and terrestrial gravity data. The most recent “satellite-only” gravity model is labelled GRIM4-S4 and the “combined” gravity model GRIM4-C4. The models are solutions in spherical harmonics and have a resolution up to degree and order 60 plus a few resonance terms in the case of GRIM4-S4, and up to degree/order 72 in the case of GRIM4-C4, corresponding to a spatial resolution of 555 km at the Earth's surface. The gravitational coefficients were estimated in a rigorous least squares adjustment simultaneously with ocean tidal terms and tracking station position parameters, so that each gravity model is associated with a consistent ocean tide model and a terrestrial reference frame built up by over 300 optical, laser and Doppler tracking stations. Comprehensive quality tests with external data and models, and test arc computations over a wide range of satellites have demonstrated the state-of-the-art capabilities of both solutions in long-wavelength geoid representation and in precise orbit computation. Received 1 February 1996; Accepted 17 July 1996     

Dual-satellite crossover latitude-lumped coefficients, their use in geodesy and oceanography

Latitude-lumped coefficients (LLC) are defined, representing geopotential-orbit variations for dual-satellite crossovers (DSC). Formulae are derived for their standard errors from the covariances of geopotential field models. Numerical examples are presented for pairs of the altimeter-bearing satellites TOPEX/Poseidon, ERS 1, and Geosat, using the error matrices of recent gravity models. The DSC, connecting separate missions, will play an increasingly important role in oceanography spanning decades only when its nonoceanographic signals are thoroughly understood. In general, the content of even the long-term averaged DSC is more complex then their single satellite crossover (SSC) counterpart. The LLC, as the spatial spectra for the geopotential-caused crossover effects, discriminate these source-differences sharply. Thus, the zero-order LLC in DSC data contains zonal gravity information not present in SSC data. In addition, zero- and first-order LLC of DSC data can reveal a geocenter discrepancy between the orbit tracking of the separate satellite missions. For example, DSC analysis from orbits computed with JGM 2 show that the y-axis of the geocenter for Geosat in 1986–1988 is shifted with respect to T/P by 6–9 cm towards the eastern Pacific. Also, where the time-gap is necessarily large (as between, say, Geosat and T/P missions) oceanographic (sea-level) differences in DSC may corrupt the geopotential interpretation of the data. Most importantly, as we illustrate, media delays for the altimeter (from the ionosphere, wet troposphere and sea-state bias) are more likely sources of contamination across two missions than in SSC analyses. Again, the LLC of zero order best shows this contrast. Using the higher-order LLC of DSC for both Geosat-T/P and ERS 1-T/P as likely representation of geopotential-only error, we show by comparison with the predicted standard errors of JGM 2 that the latter's previously calibrated covariance matrix is generally valid. Received: 14 February 1996 / Accepted: 27 March 1997     

Exploring gravity field determination from orbit perturbations of the European Gravity Mission GOCE

 A comparison was made between two methods for gravity field recovery from orbit perturbations that can be derived from global positioning system satellite-to-satellite tracking observations of the future European gravity field mission GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer). The first method is based on the analytical linear orbit perturbation theory that leads under certain conditions to a block-diagonal normal matrix for the gravity unknowns, significantly reducing the required computation time. The second method makes use of numerical integration to derive the observation equations, leading to a full set of normal equations requiring powerful computer facilities. Simulations were carried out for gravity field recovery experiments up to spherical harmonic degree and order 80 from 10 days of observation. It was found that the first method leads to large approximation errors as soon as the maximum degree surpasses the first resonance orders and great care has to be taken with modeling resonance orbit perturbations, thereby loosing the block-diagonal structure. The second method proved to be successful, provided a proper division of the data period into orbital arcs that are not too long. Received: 28 April 2000 / Accepted: 6 November 2000     

Making the connection between Geosat and TOPEX/Poseidon

We can presently construct two independent time series of sea level, each at a precision of a few centimeters, from Geosat (1985–1988) and TOPEX/Poseidon (1992–1995) collinear altimetry. Both are based on precise satellite orbits computed using a common geopotential model, JGM-2 (Nerem et al. 1994). We have attempted to connect these series using Geosat-T/P crossover differences in order to assess long-term ocean changes between these missions. Unfortunately, the observed result are large-scale sea level differences which appear to be due to a combination of geodetic and geopotential error sources. The most significant geodetic component seems to be a coordinate system bias for Geosat sea level (relative to T/P) of −7 to −9 cm in the y-axis (towards the Eastern Pacific). The Geosat-T/P sea height differences at crossovers (with JGM-2 orbits) probably also contain stationary geopotential-orbit error of about the same magnitude which also distort any oceanographic interpretation of the observed changes. We also found JGM-3 Geosat orbits have not resolved the datum errors evident from the JGM-2 Geosat -T/P results. We conclude that the direct altimetric approach to accurate determination of sea level change using Geosat and T/P data still depends on further improvement in the Geosat orbits, including definition of the geocenter. Received: 11 March 1996; Accepted: 19 September 1996     

Ocean tides from T/P, ERS-1, and GEOSAT altimetry

 Aliasing of the diurnal and semi-diurnal tides is a major problem when estimating the ocean tides from satellite altimetry. As a result of aliasing, the tides become correlated and many years of altimeter observations may be needed to seperate them. For the three major satellite altimetry missions to date i.e., GEOSAT, ERS-1, and TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P), the alias periods as well as the Rayleigh periods over which the tides decorrelate can be identified. Especially in case of GEOSAT and ERS-1, severe correlation problems arise. However, it is shown by means of covariance analyses that the tidal phase advance differences on crossing satellite groundtracks can significantly reduce the correlations among the diurnal and semi-diurnal tides and among these tides and the seasonal cycles of ocean variability. Therefore, it has been attempted to solve a multi-satellite response tidal solution for the diurnal and semi-diurnal bands from a total of 7 years of altimetry. Unfortunately, it could be shown that the GEOSAT and ERS-1 orbit errors are too large to improve a 3-year T/P tidal solution with about 2 years of GEOSAT and 2 years of ERS-1 altimeter observations. However, these results are preliminary and it is expected that more accurate orbits, which have become available recently for ERS-1, and additional altimeter data from ERS-2 and the GEOSAT Follow-On (GFO) should lead to an improved T/P tidal model. Received: 4 May 1999 / Accepted: 24 January 2000     

On fine orbit selection for particular geodetic and oceanographic missions involving passage through resonances

 The identification of mean semi-major axes (suitably defined) for satellite orbits to satisfy a variety of requirements for geodesy, geophysics and oceanography, in terms of repeat orbits (with orbital resonances), is investigated. Various options for the definition of semi-major axis, from the viewpoint of satellite dynamics, are described. Simple simulations of the expected resonant changes in inclination are presented, and tools for the analysis of orbit resonances to extract certain lumped harmonic coefficients of the geopotential (e.g. from the very precise CHAMP orbit) are resurrected. Finally, a preliminary example of the 46th-order resonance analysis possible for CHAMP, based on the mean orbital elements produced by GFZ (GeoForschungs Zentrum) for ephemeris prediction, is presented. Received: 10 July 2001 / Accepted: 17 July 2002 Correspondence to: J. Klokočník at Ondřejov Observatory Acknowledgements. We thank Prof. Dr. Ch. Reigber, Dr. P. Schwintzer, Dr. T. Gruber and Dr. R. K?nig from GFZ Potsdam for various consultations and discussions, and for the CHAMP two-line mean elements. This investigation was performed under the aegis of CEDR (Center for Earth's Dynamics Research, Prague-Ondřejov); it has been supported by project LN00A005 (provided by the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic) and by grant A 3004 of the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.     

Improved relativistic transformations in GPS

For GPS satellite clocks, a nominal (hardware) frequency offset and a conventional periodic relativistic correction derived as a dot product of the satellite position and velocity vectors, are used to compensate the relativistic effects. The conventional hardware clock rate offset of 38,575.008 ns/day corresponds to a nominal orbit semi-major axis of about 26,561,400 m. For some of the GPS satellites, the departures from the nominal semi-major axis can cause an apparent clock rate up to 10 ns/day. GPS orbit perturbations, together with the earth gravity field oblateness, which is largely responsible for the orbit perturbations, cause the standard GPS relativistic transformations to depart from the rigorous relativity transformation by up to 0.2 ns/day. In addition, the conventional periodic relativistic correction exhibits periodic errors with amplitudes of about 0.1 and 0.2 ns, with periods of about 6 h and 14 days, respectively. Using an analytical integration of the gravity oblateness term (J₂), a simple analytical approximation was derived for the apparent clock rate and the 6-h periodic errors of the standard GPS gravity correction. For daily linear representations of GPS satellite clocks, the improved relativistic formula was found to agree with the precise numerical integration of the GPS relativistic effects within about 0.015 ns. For most of the Block IIR satellites, the 6-h periodical errors of the GPS conventional relativistic correction are already detectable in the recent IGS final clock combinations.     

Improvement in global gravity field recovery using GFZ-1 satellite laser tracking data

The passive satellite GFZ-1 has been orbiting the Earth since April 1995. The purpose of this mission is to improve the current knowledge of the Earth's gravity field by analysing gravitational orbit perturbations observed at unique low altitudes, below 400 km. GFZ-1 is one target of the international satellite laser ranging ground network. An evaluation of the first 30 months of GFZ-1 laser tracking data led to a new version of the global GRIM4-S4 satellite-only gravity field model: GRIM4-S4G. Information was obtained from GFZ-1 data for spherical harmonic coefficients up to degree 100, which was not possible in any earlier satellite-only gravity field solution. GFZ-1's contribution to a global 5 × 5° geoid and gravity field representations is moderate but visible with a 1 cm and 0.1 mGal gain in accuracy on a level of 75 cm and 5 mGal, respectively. Received: 10 November 1998 / Accepted: 19 April 1999     

星载加速度传感器的在轨运动影响

加速度传感器测量卫星所受非引力加速度的精度是利用该技术精确恢复重力场的重要指标。根据卫星运动理论 ,给出了轨道升交点赤经摄动、近升距摄动、卫星运动、坐标轴旋转引起的加速度性质以及相应表达式。针对CHAMP卫星轨道 ,讨论了各项的影响量级     

Evaluation of pre-CHAMP gravity models `GRIM5-S1' and `GRIM5-C1' with satellite crossover altimetry

 The new GFZ/GRGS gravity field models GRIM5-S1 and GRIM5-C1, currently used as initial models for the CHAMP mission, have been compared with other recent models (JGM 3, EGM 96) for radial orbit accuracy (by means of latitude lumped coefficients) in computations on altimetry satellite orbits. The bases for accuracy judgements are multi-year averages of crossover sea height differences from Geosat and ERS 1/2 missions. This radially sensitive data is fully independent of the data used to develop these gravity models. There is good agreement between the observed differences in all of the world's oceans and projections of the same errors from the scaled covariance matrix of their harmonic geopotential coefficients. It was found that the tentative scale factor of five for the formal standard deviations of the harmonic coefficients of the new GRIM fields is justified, i.e. the accuracy estimates, provided together with the GRIM geopotential coefficients, are realistic. Received: 20 February 2001 / Accepted: 24 October 2001     

计算测高卫星地面轨迹交叉点的快速数值算法

计算交叉点是卫星测高数据处理中的重要基础性工作。扩展了交叉点存在的判断条件,可用于判断任意两条卫星地面轨迹是否有交叉点。提出了一种快速计算交叉点的数值算法--矩形收缩算法。采用一个周期的Topex/Poseidon（T/P）卫星模拟轨道和一条海洋二号（HY-2）卫星实际轨迹设计了两个算例,以验证算法的精度和效率。结果表明矩形收缩法可以快速、高精度地计算出全部交叉点。以Envisat数据为例验证了算法计算近极轨道两极交叉点的适用性。该方法不仅可以计算单一卫星轨迹的交叉点,也可计算两个不同倾角卫星的轨迹交叉点,具有很强的通用性。     

Precise orbit determination for the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellite mission using GPS

The joint Taiwan–US mission FORMOSAT-3/ COSMIC (COSMIC) was launched on April 17, 2006. Each of the six satellites is equipped with two POD antennas. The orbits of the six satellites are determined from GPS data using zero-difference carrier-phase measurements by the reduced dynamic and kinematic methods. The effects of satellite center of mass (COM) variation, satellite attitude, GPS antenna phase center variation (PCV), and cable delay difference on the COSMIC orbit determination are studied. Nominal attitudes estimated from satellite state vectors deliver a better orbit accuracy when compared to observed attitude. Numerical tests show that the COSMIC COM must be precisely calibrated in order not to corrupt orbit determination. Based on the analyses of the 5 and 6-h orbit overlaps of two 30-h arcs, orbit accuracies from the reduced dynamic and kinematic solutions are nearly identical and are at the 2–3 cm level. The mean RMS difference between the orbits from this paper and those from UCAR (near real-time) and WHU (post-processed) is about 10 cm, which is largely due to different uses of GPS ephemerides, high-rate GPS clocks and force models. The kinematic orbits of COSMIC are expected to be used for recovery of temporal variations in the gravity field.     

Quality assessment of FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC and GRACE GPS observables: analysis of multipath, ionospheric delay and phase residual in orbit determination

The precise orbit determination antennas of F3/C and GRACE-A satellites are from the same manufacturer, but are installed in different configurations. The current orbit accuracy of F3/C is 3 cm at arcs with good GPS data, compared to 1 cm of GRACE, which has a larger ratio of usable GPS data. This paper compares the qualities of GPS observables from F3/C and GRACE. Using selected satellites and time spans, the following average values for the satellite F3/C and satellite A of GRACE are obtained: multipath effect on the pseudorange P1, 0.78 and 0.38 m; multipath effect on the pseudorange P2, 1.03 and 0.69 m; occurrence frequency of cycle slip, 1/29 and 1/84; standard error of unit weight, 4 and 1 cm; dynamic–kinematic orbit difference, 10 and 2 cm. For gravity determination using F3/C GPS data, a careful selection of GPS data is critical. With six satellites in orbit, F3/C’s large amount of GPS data will make up the deficiency in data quality.     

卫星轨道力学模型分析

本文分析了目前卫星定轨中采用的轨道力学模型误差状况。使用Ｌａ－ｇｅｏｓ卫星的全球激光测距资料，利用长短弧定轨比较方法，给出了力学模型误差对此卫星的影响特性，并对所采用的力模型进行定性、定量分析。结果表明，卫星长弧定轨误差源来自于力学背景尚不十分清楚的因素。     

Beidou satellite maneuver thrust force estimation for precise orbit determination

Beidou satellites, especially geostationary earth orbit (GEO) and inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites, need to be frequently maneuvered to keep them in position due to various perturbations. The satellite ephemerides are not available during such maneuver periods. Precise estimation of thrust forces acting on satellites would provide continuous ephemerides during maneuver periods and could significantly improve orbit accuracy immediately after the maneuver. This would increase satellite usability for both real-time and post-processing applications. Using 1 year of observations from the Multi-GNSS Experiment network (MGEX), we estimate the precise maneuver periods for all Beidou satellites and the thrust forces. On average, GEO and IGSO satellites in the Beidou constellation are maneuvered 12 and 2 times, respectively, each year. For GEO satellites, the maneuvers are mainly in-plane, while out-of-plane maneuvers are observed for IGSO satellites and a small number of GEO satellites. In most cases, the Beidou satellite maneuver periods last 15–25 min, but can be as much as 2 h for the few out-of-plane maneuvers of GEO satellites. The thrust forces acting on Beidou satellites are normally in the order of 0.1–0.7 mm/s². This can cause changes in velocity of GEO/IGSO satellites in the order of several decimeters per second. In the extreme cases of GEO out-of-plane maneuvers, very large cross-track velocity changes are observed, namely 28 m/s, induced by 5.4 mm/s² thrust forces. Also, we demonstrate that by applying the estimated thrust forces in orbit integration, the orbit errors can be estimated at decimeter level in along- and cross-track directions during normal maneuver periods, and 1–2 m in all the orbital directions for the enormous GEO out-of-plane maneuver.     

Applications of an orbiting gravity gradiometer

Considering present attempts to develop a gradiometer with an accuracy between 10⁻³ E and 10⁻⁴ E, two applications for such a device have been studied: (a) mapping the gravitational field of the Earth, and (b) estimating the geocentric distance of a satellite carrying the instrument. Given a certain power spectrum for the signal and 10⁻⁴ E (rms) of white measurement noise, the results of an error analysis indicate that a six-month mission in polar orbit at a height of 200 km, with samples taken every three seconds, should provide data for estimating the spherical harmonic potential coefficients up to degree and order 300 with less than 50% error, and improve the coefficients through degree 30 by up to four orders of magnitude compared to existing models. A simulation study based on numerical orbit integrations suggests that a simple adjustment of the initial conditions based on gradiometer data could produce orbits where the geocentric distance is accurate to 10 cm or better, provided the orbits are 2000 km high and some improvement in the gravity field up to degree 30 is first achieved. In this sense, the gravity-mapping capability of the gradiometer complements its use in orbit refinement. This idea can be of use in determining orbits for satellite altimetry. Furthermore, by tracking the gradiometer-carrying spacecraft when it passes nearly above a terrestrial station, the geocentric distance of this station can also be estimated to about one decimeter accuracy. This principle could be used in combination with VLBI and other modern methods to set up a world-wide 3-D network of high accuracy.     

单星模糊度固定的整数相位钟法及在低轨卫星定轨中的应用

单星GPS相位模糊度固定可以显著提升低轨卫星的定轨精度。目前,CNES/CLS、武汉大学和CODE 3家机构都已公开发布用于单星模糊度固定的GPS整数相位钟产品。本文首先利用整数相位钟方法实现单星模糊度固定,并应用于低轨卫星精密定轨中;然后,对比分析了不同机构提供的整数相位钟产品在低轨卫星单星模糊度固定和精密定轨中的应用性能;最后,通过对GRACE-FO编队卫星数据进行处理,发现基于不同机构产品的窄巷模糊度固定成功率都可以达到94%左右。不同机构产品获得的模糊度固定解轨道的SLR(satellite laser ranging)检核残差RMS约为0.9 cm,与模糊度浮点解的定轨结果相比,单星绝对轨道精度提高了约30%。在分别利用CNES/CLS、武汉大学和CODE产品实现单星模糊度固定后,双星相对轨道的KBR(K-band ranging)检核残差RMS分别从5.7、5.4和5.3 mm减小到2.1、2.0和1.5 mm。结果表明,不同整数相位钟产品在GRACE-FO卫星单星模糊度固定和精密定轨中的效果相当。     

Mission design,operation and exploitation of the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer mission

The European Space Agency’s Gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer mission (GOCE) was launched on 17 March 2009. As the first of the Earth Explorer family of satellites within the Agency’s Living Planet Programme, it is aiming at a better understanding of the Earth system. The mission objective of GOCE is the determination of the Earth’s gravity field and geoid with high accuracy and maximum spatial resolution. The geoid, combined with the de facto mean ocean surface derived from twenty-odd years of satellite radar altimetry, yields the global dynamic ocean topography. It serves ocean circulation and ocean transport studies and sea level research. GOCE geoid heights allow the conversion of global positioning system (GPS) heights to high precision heights above sea level. Gravity anomalies and also gravity gradients from GOCE are used for gravity-to-density inversion and in particular for studies of the Earth’s lithosphere and upper mantle. GOCE is the first-ever satellite to carry a gravitational gradiometer, and in order to achieve its challenging mission objectives the satellite embarks a number of world-first technologies. In essence the spacecraft together with its sensors can be regarded as a spaceborne gravimeter. In this work, we describe the mission and the way it is operated and exploited in order to make available the best-possible measurements of the Earth gravity field. The main lessons learned from the first 19 months in orbit are also provided, in as far as they affect the quality of the science data products and therefore are of specific interest for GOCE data users.     

GRACE-derived surface water mass anomalies by energy integral approach: application to continental hydrology

We propose an unconstrained approach to recover regional time-variations of surface mass anomalies using Level-1 Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) orbit observations, for reaching spatial resolutions of a few hundreds of kilometers. Potential differences between the twin GRACE vehicles are determined along short satellite tracks using the energy integral method (i.e., integration of orbit parameters vs. time) in a quasi-inertial terrestrial reference frame. Potential differences residuals corresponding mainly to changes in continental hydrology are then obtained after removing the gravitational effects of the known geophysical phenomena that are mainly the static part of the Earth’s gravity field and time-varying contributions to gravity (Sun, Moon, planets, atmosphere, ocean, tides, variations of Earth’s rotation axis) through ad hoc models. Regional surface mass anomalies are restored from potential difference anomalies of 10 to 30-day orbits onto 1^◦ continental grids by regularization techniques based on singular value decomposition. Error budget analysis has been made by considering the important effects of spectrum truncation, the time length of observation (or spatial coverage of the data to invert) and for different levels of noise.