Relative Kinematic Orbit Determination for GRACE-FO Satellite by Jointing GPS and LRI

Abstract

As the first in-orbit formation satellites equipped with a Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI) instrument, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on (GRACE-FO) satellites are designed to evaluate the effective ability of the new LRI ranging system applied to satellite-to-satellite tracking. To evaluate the application of LRI in GRACE-FO, a relative kinematic orbit determination scheme for formation satellites integrating Kalman filters and GPS/LRI is proposed. The observation equation is constructed by combining LRI and spaceborne GPS data, and the intersatellite baselines of GRACE-FO formation satellites are calculated with Kalman filters. The combination of GPS and LRI techniques can limit the influence of GPS observation errors and improve the stability of orbit determination of the GRACE-FO satellites formation. The linearization of the GPS/LRI observation model and the process of the GPS/LRI relative kinematic orbit determination are provided. Relative kinematic orbit determination is verified by actual GPS/LRI data of GRACE-FO-A and GRACE-FO-B satellites. The quality of relative kinematic orbit determination is evaluated by reference orbit check and K-Band Ranging (KBR) check. The result of the reference orbit check indicates that the accuracy of GRACE-FO relative kinematic orbit determination along X, Y, and Z (components of the baseline vector) directions is` better than 2.9 cm. Compared with the relative kinematic orbit determination by GPS only, GPS/LRI improves the accuracy of the relative kinematic orbit determination by approximately 1cm along with X, Y and Z directions, and by about 1.8 cm in 3D directions. The overall accuracy of relative kinematic orbit determination is improved by 25.9%. The result of the KBR check indicates that the accuracy of the intersatellite baseline determination is about +/−10.7 mm.

GEORB: Release for precise orbit determination of low Earth orbiters and satellite gravity missions

“…The achieved orbit performance reaches level of accuracy similar to other studies of the GRACE-FO mission data analysis [32,33].…”

Refinement of GRACE‐FO Kinematic Orbit by Combining Least Squares Method and Orbital Dynamic Model

“…In the process of solving the POD of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, researchers have made contributions in certain aspects [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Jäggi et al [7] used the least squares (LS) method to estimate GPS-based GRACE orbits, processing GPS data in the form of satellite-ground double-differenced (DD) carrier phase.…”

Assessment of Swarm Kinematic Orbit Determination Using Two Different Double-Difference Methods

“…LEO satellite precise orbit determination (POD) can be divided into three approaches: kinematic orbit determination, dynamic orbit determination, and reduced dynamic orbit determination. During the past few years, since the continuing evolution of space-borne global positioning system (GPS) technology, the accuracy of kinematic precision orbit determination can reach the centimeter level [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. It has been demonstrated that using kinematic positions is better suited for independent gravity field recovery.…”