A New Solar Radiation Pressure Model for GPS Satellites

The largest error in currently used GPS orbit models is due to the effect of solar radiation pressure. Over the last few years many improvements were made in modeling the orbits of GPS satellites within the International GPS Service (IGS). Howeer, most improvements were achieved by increasing the number of estimated orbit and/or solar radiation pressure parameters. This increase in the number of estimated satellite parameters weakens the solutions of all estimated parameters (not only orbit parameters). Because of correlations the additional orbit parameters may introduce biases in other estimated quantities, for example the length of day. We present a recently developed solar radiation pressure model for the GPS satellites. This model is based on experiences and results gained at the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) in the context of its IGS activities since June 1992. The performance of the new model is almost an order of magnitude better than that of the existing ROCK models. It also allows a reduction of the number of orbit parameters that have to be estimated. ? 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.