以基线长度变化率为约束估算VLBI站的垂直形变率

基于NNR-NUVEL-1A地球板块运动模型和ITRF2000地球参考架的三维VLBI站速度矢量,采用实测的VLBI基线长度变化率作为约束,重新估计了部分国际VLBI站的局部或区域性地壳的垂直形变,并与国际地球参考架ITRFs解和VLBI全球解GLB2003,VTRF2003和VTRF2005的结果进行了比较。结果表明,欧亚板块的URUMQI站和太平洋板块的KWAJAL26站,南极OHIGGINS站的垂直形变率、ITRFs解和VLBI全球解存在6-15mm/a的差异,北美YUMA站可能有15-31mm/a 的垂直形变率,而美国西部太平洋板块的San Francisco(PRESIDIO)站的垂直形变率还有待进一步的研究。此外,SC-VLBA,CRIMEA和EFLSBERG站的垂直形变率、ITRFs解和VLBI全球解的差约为1-6mm/a。用不同方法得到的VLBI站的水平形变率解有较好的一致性。     

无先验基准方法在SLR资料处理中的应用

SLR（satellite Laser Ranging)资料处理一般来说总是由各SLR测站构成的从标框架里进行。为了克服在SLR资料处理过程中对坐标框架的重复定义，利用全球1999年1月到12月的LAGEOS-1的SLR资料以无先验基准方法解算EOP（Earth Orientation Parameters）和所有SLR站的坐标的试验。在SLR资料处理中用无先验基准方法与GPS（Glaobal Positioning System)的不太一样，由于SLR的资料不能把SLR观测站连结成非常牢固的空间多面体（GPS的资料在每一瞬间可以拟测站联成一完整的空间多面体），因此需要加一些约束，以避免法方程出现秩亏。解得的测站从标用7参数转换到ITRF97坐标系，rms为1.3cm。EOP与IERS的eopc04序列相比，Xp、Yp、的rms分别为0.37mas、0.30mas，LOD（Length Of Day)的rmas为0.019ms。     

Determination of the regional deformation rates of Shanghai and Kashima VLBI stations based on ITRF97

The vertical deformation rates (VDRs) and horizontal deformation rates (HDRs) of Shanghai VLBI station in China and Kashima and Kashima34 VLBI stations in Japan were re-analysed using the baseline length change rates from Shanghai to 13 global VLBI stations, and from Kashima to 27 stations and from Kashima34 to 12 stations, based on the NASA VLBI global solution glb1123 (Ma, 1999). The velocity vectors of the global VLBI stations were referred to the ITRF97 reference frame, and the Eulerian vectors of different models of plate motion were used for comparative solutions. The VDR of Shanghai station is estimated to be −1.91±0.56 mm/yr, and those of Kashima and Kashima34 stations, −3.72±0.74mm/yr and −8.81±0.84mm/yr, respectively. The difference between the last two was verified by further analysis. Similar estimates were also made for the Kokee, Kauai and MK_VLBA VLBI stations in mid-Pacific.     

Investigation of the positional instability of reference points for the Simeiz-Katziveli collocation station

We analyze the local geodetic ties between the VLBI, LLR, and GPS reference points of the Simeiz-Katziveli collocation station. The conclusion about the instability of this geodynamic test area is confirmed. We conclude that regular, with a period of 1–2.5 years, redeterminations of the local geodetic ties at this collocation station are necessary. A linear model of the time variation in the estimates of the local geodetic ties is constructed for this test area. The estimates of the local geodetic ties are compared with the differences between the corresponding coordinates of the reference points specified in ITRF2000. We conclude that there are systematic errors in ITRF2000 related to an incorrect determination of the velocities for the reference points of the collocation station with identical DOMES numbers. We suggest assigning different DOMES numbers to the reference points of unstable geodynamic test areas. The estimates of the local geodetic ties are compared with the differences between the corresponding coordinates of the reference points obtained from individual VLBI, LLR, and GPS solutions. These were found to be in disagreement.     

上海天文台新SLR站精密定位和归心测量

为使上海天文台新SLR站尽早投入全球SLR网的运行,根据中国SLR网的有关要求,对该站进行了精密定位和归心测量。测量中安置了特制的对中滑块设备,在小范围内采用三角测量的高差替代大地高差的近似,取得了较好的效果。测量结果表明:上海天文台新SLR站相对于上海IGS站归心测量精度可优于5 mm,由上海IGS站引得的点位精度可优于10 mm。     

Some results of geodetic referring of the radio telescope and SLR stations to GPS markers in the Crimean geodynamical test area Simeiz-Katsyveli

Positions of space-geodetic instruments are calculated in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF2000) by referring the instrument reference points to the local geodetic network and GPS markers. The eccentricities of the SLR stations CrAO and CLO and the permanent GPS station CrAO with respect to the reference point of the radio telescope RT-22 are determined. The local relative deformations of the Earth’s surface are presented as shifts of the instrument reference points with respect to the nearest points of the local geodetic network and with respect to each other.     

VLBI at the Hartebeesthoek radio astronomy Observatory

The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory has played a key role in the development of very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) in the southern hemisphere since 1971. This paper describes how the VLBI programme evolved and the instrumentation used. Contributions to high resolution mapping of compact radio sources are described, for both the Southern Hemisphere VLBI Experiment, SHEVE, and for Global networks, where HartRAO has made significant improvements in the N-S resolution. The unique geographical location of the telescope has been used to establish the terrestrial reference frame in the southern hemisphere and to measure tectonic motions over the past nine years. The Observatory has also been a fundamental station in extending the celestial reference frame defined by extragalactic radio sources to the southern hemisphere, and results of these programmes are given.     

On the errors and stability of reference frames

The distribution of systematic errors in the coordinates of 1217 extragalactic radio sources included in the latest version of the ICRF2 (International Celestial Reference Frame) reference catalog has been mapped for the first time by processing VLBI observations from international astrometric and geodetic programs spanning the period 1980–2012. These errors are shown to reach ±1.0 mas (milliarcseconds). However, for a sample of 752 sources observed more than 100 times, these errors do not exceed ±0.2 mas, suggesting that ICRF2 is inhomogeneous. In addition, the individual stability of dozens of extragalactic radio sources and ground-based stations included in the latest version of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame, ITRF2005, has been investigated. Significant linear trends and anomalous shifts reaching ±20 µas (microarcseconds) have been detected for many of the sources. Significant systematic shifts have also been found for some of the reference stations. The results obtained stimulate a search for new methods of analyzing VLBI observations and ways of their global adjustment that would provide greater homogeneity and stability of the ICRF and ITRF. This is needed both to increase the accuracy of determining the astrometric, geodetic, and geodynamic parameters derived from these observations and to facilitate their physical interpretation. The work has been performed with the QUASAR multifunction software package developed at the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences.     

Accurate Analytical Calculation of Effects of Rorations of the Central Planet on a Staellite's Orbit

Satellite orbital perturbations due to many rotations of the planet-fixed reference frame are calculated by a general analytical method. For the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) the effects of the Earth irregular rotation, precession, nutation, and polar motion are considered. Gravity coefficients of the Earth potential expansion are expressed in an inertial Celestial Reference Frame (CRF) as functions of the set of standard constant coefficients derived in the ITRF and of the rotation angles between the CRF and ITRF. The analytical motion theory uses time dependent gravity coefficients, and the Lagrange motion equations are integrated in the CRF, as it is done by numerical methods. Comparison of the proposed analytical method with a numerical one is presented. Motion of the ETALON-1 geodetic satellite perturbed by the geopotential (36*36) and by the full effects of the Earth irregular rotation, precession, nutation and polar motion is predicted. The r.m.s. difference between the satellite's coordinates calculated by both methods over a year interval is 2 cm. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

无人值守GNSS方法测定射电望远镜参考点

为解决常规射电望远镜归心测量工作耗时耗力的问题,引入GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)同步监测技术实现了一种针对射电望远镜参考点的无人值守监测方法.设计了针对GNSS靶标点观测数据的归算方法,包括数据匹配、数据检核以及后续精度评估等步骤,并对2018年佘山25-m射电VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry)望远镜的GNSS靶标点实测数据开展了数据预处理、解析与归心解算等,证明了该方法的可行性.结果表明基于该方法,采用单日内部分(5%)数据(约7600个靶标点),所测定的VLBI望远镜参考点的点位形式精度可达3 mm.总结了针对射电望远镜采用GNSS开展无人值守归心测量先行试验中的一些经验教训,明确了利用该方法测量过程中应该注意的问题,为今后更高精度射电望远镜参考点无人值守归心监测提供重要参考.     

Coordinate systems and lunar observing station positions

Satellite geodesy has yielded the locations of more than fifty stations in a single coordinate system referred to the Earth's center of mass with accuracies in the five to ten meter range. The following different methods have been used at Goddard to accomplish this.Dynamical solutions have been obtained for the locations of some fifty key stations using data from the GEOS satellite program. The distribution of observations about the stations is illustrated in terms of the data obtained for a typical station such as the one at Edinburg, Texas. Geopotential coefficients were held fixed in these solutions. The results of these dynamical determinations implied geodetic datum shifts which were then used to arrive at positions for some two hundred additional stations.Another approach involved the adjustment of the coordinates of seventeen stations on the basis of observations of short arcs of GEOS satellite orbits. These results were found to be consistent with those obtained through ground surveys to about five meters rms in each coordinate.Simultaneous solutions for station locations and geopotential coefficients have also yielded values for positions of some sixty stations, again in a coordinate system defined in terms of the Earth's center of mass.Lunar laser ranging and lunar occultation observing programs involve knowledge of the positions of the observing sites. In some cases the lunar observing program itself yields station coordinate information. In other cases greater reliance is placed upon independent determinations of site locations. The location of an occultation observation site at Olifantsfontein, for example, has been obtained in a center-of-mass system in both the dynamical and simultaneous satellite solutions. It is anticipated that a dynamical satellite solution will be extended in 1973 to obtain center-of-mass coordinates for a station in New Zealand. This will make it possible to tie an occultation site in that region to a dynamically determined coordinate system referred to the mass center. Coordinates for stations at Organ Pass, New Mexico, determined in both the dynamical and simultaneous solutions, and Edinburg, Texas, found in both the dynamical and short-arc adjustments, provide the basis for referring the location of a facility such as the McDonald Observatory to a center-of-mass system either through accurate ground surveying techniques or by means of a satellite geodesty tie. The latter approach has already been used, for example, to fix the position of an isolated site on Madagascar relative to a reference point in Africa and, in turn, to a center-of-mass coordinate system.Estimates of the accuracies of the satellite determinations are discussed.Theoretical aspects of coordinate systems associated with the Earth and the Moon are also considered.Communication presented at the conference on Lunar Dynamics and Observational Coordinate Systems held January 15–17, 1973 at the Lunar Science Institute, Houston, Tex., U.S.A.     

空间VLBI与天文地球动力学

介绍了空间VLBI的精密定轨及其在天文地球动力学应用研究中的最新进展．指出因为空间VLBI的时延和时延率观测量同时涉及到射电参考系、动力学参考系和地固参考系,所以特别适合于参考系的直接连接工作．对为评价参考系连接的精度而发展的协方差分析理论也作了介绍,还分析了将时延和时延率资料用于精密定轨时遇到的困难及其解决办法．     

VLBI、SLR与时频

叙述VLBI、SLR对时频的要求,上海天文台VLBI、SLR的时频系统,并在此基础上重点介绍上海天文台有关方面的研究.     

Satellite laser ranging and its applications

Satellite laser ranging (SLR) provides an important capability for precise orbit determination and for geophysical parameter estimation to support a number of contemporary geodynamic and oceanographic investigations. The precision of the SLR measurement has improved from the early meter-level systems to the current capabilities of a few centimeters for the best systems. The accuracy of the orbits and geophysical parameter recovery have shown an associated improvement. Polar motion with accuracies of 2 mas, station coordinates better than 10 cm, and interstation baseline rates indicative of tectonic motion are determined routinely with the current set of global SLR data. This discussion reviews the SLR measurement, analysis approach, and some of the recent results derived from the current SLR data set.     

17 years of ranging from the Helwan SLR station

The satellites laser ranging from Helwan SLR station during the last 20 years are discussed. The internal calibration method used at the Helwan SLR station is explained. The root mean square value of the calibrations carried out during the period from 1991 to 2008 is computed. To clarify the difference in the accuracy of the measurements, the results of the analysis of the data taken for all the satellites after the upgrading (2000) are given and compared with those of the satellites observed before the upgrading (1996). The total number of passes of the satellite observed during the period from 1991 to 2008 is presented and the results are compared with the other SLR stations.     

SHORDE I program system and applications

As one of the Analysis Centers of SLR global data, a program system named SHORDE I has been developed at Shanghai Observatory. This software package is used for processing observational data of satellites and estimating satellite orbit and dynamical and geodetic parameters. The reference systems and the force model required for constructing the package were first realized at the cm-level. In order to save running time and the storage on the computer, a multistage-multiarc procedure has been especially designed.The technique has been applied to the SLR data from LAGEOS and earth rotation parameters and precise station coordinates were derived using the data from Nov. 1984 to Jan. 1988.     

星载氢钟VLBI观测实验及分析

中国计划于2025年左右建立月球轨道VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometer)测站,将会搭载被动型星载氢钟作为时间频率标准.由于是首次在VLBI观测中使用星载氢钟,需要研究和验证其可行性.因此,利用星载氢钟作为频率基准开展了VLBI观测.实验时,分别使用主动型地面氢钟和被动型星载氢钟作为频率基准,利用上海天文台佘山25 m射电望远镜和其他测站对我国火星探测器天问一号进行了交替VLBI观测.数据处理分析结果表明,基于地面氢钟与星载氢钟的VLBI残余群时延标准差均在0.5 ns以内,表明星载氢钟可满足深空探测VLBI测定轨的精度要求,验证了其作为月球VLBI测站频率基准的可行性.     

Tropospheric Delay from VLBI and GNSS Measurements

Using an updated version of the QUASAR software package developed at the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, we have processed the VLBI observations within the international CONT14 program (May 6–20, 2014), in which a global network of 17 stations was involved (a total of ~250 000 observations). The package update concerned the optimization of data structure and the refinement of stochastic models for the random variations in wet tropospheric delay and atomic clock difference. The main goal of this paper is to compare the VLBI determinations of the tropospheric delay with its independent determinations using global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). We show that both these determinations agree well between themselves only in the case of a global analysis of the VLBI observations, where the VLBI station coordinates are also refined, along with the tropospheric delay and the clock synchronization and Earth orientation parameters. If, alternatively, the station coordinates are insufficiently accurate and are not refined from VLBI observations, then it is appropriate not to determine the tropospheric delay from these observations, but to take it from the publicly accessible independent GNSS data. However, this requires that the VLBI and GNSS techniques operate simultaneously at a common observing site. We have established the shortcomings of the universally accepted method of stabilizing the global solution associated with the absence of a criterion for choosing reference stations and radio sources. Two ways of their elimination are proposed: (i) introducing a coordinated list of weight factors for the errors in the coordinates of such stations and sources into the stabilization algorithm and (ii) adopting a coordinated list of stations and sources the refinement of whose coordinates is not required at all for a certain time.     

国际地球参考框架:现状与未来

地球参考框架是研究地球整体和局部运动以及探讨地球各圈层运动机制的一个重要基准。简要回顾地球参考架的发展和现状，主要分析当前取得的成绩及其存在问题和局限性，着重提出未来地球参考架的目标和若干建议。     

The Experiment and Analysis on VLBI Observations of Space Passive Hydrogen Maser

China plans to establish a lunar orbital VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometer) station around 2025, which will carry a space passive hydrogen maser as the time and frequency reference. Since it is the first time to use a space passive hydrogen maser for VLBI observation, its feasibility needs to be studied and verified. Therefore, we carried out VLBI observations using the space passive hydrogen maser as the frequency reference. In the experiment, the active hydrogen atomic clock and space passive hydrogen maser were used as the frequency standard, and the alternate VLBI observations of China’s Mars probe TW1 (Tianwen 1) were carried out using the 25 m radio telescope at Sheshan, Shanghai, and other VLBI stations. The results of data processing and analysis show that the standard deviation of VLBI residual group delay based on both active hydrogen atomic clock and space passive hydrogen maser are within 0.5 ns, which indicates that the space passive hydrogen maser can meet the accuracy requirements of VLBI measurement for deep space exploration, and verify its feasibility as the frequency standard of lunar orbital VLBI stations.