Alignment of geodetic and satellite coordinate systems to the average terrestrial system

The parallelism of geodetic and satellite systems to the average terrestrial system is examined, under the assumption that a geodetic system is a fixed framework invariant with respect to geodetic network adjustment. In this case a geodetic system is rotated with respect to the average terrestrial system only about the ellipsoid normal of the initial point. The method is demonstrated using coordinates and covariance matrices for BC-4 and SECOR satellite tracking stations computed by Mueller and his co-workers. It is shown that the NAD geodetic system is scaled significantly larger than the satellite systems; the SECOR satellite systems have significant Z-rotations with respect to the average terrestrial system; and the ETH geodetic system may have a significant rotation with respect to the average terrestrial system.