We present an exact solution of the equations for orbit determination of a two body system in a hyperbolic or parabolic motion. In solving this problem, we extend the method employed by Asada, Akasaka and Kasai (AAK) for a binary system in an elliptic orbit. The solutions applicable to each of elliptic, hyperbolic and parabolic ∗Email: [email protected]

The cubed-sphere model provides rapid evaluation of the gravity field for more efficient orbit propagation. This paper characterizes the improved computational efficiency of sequential orbit determination, specifically the extended and unscented Kalman filters, when using this new model instead of the common spherical harmonic model. To use the new gravity model with the extended Kalman filter,...

Various methods for kinematic and reduced-dynamic precise orbit determination (POD) of Low Earth Orbiters (LEO) were developed based on zeroand double-differencing of GPS carrier-phase measurements with and without ambiguity resolution. In this paper we present the following approaches in LEO precise orbit determination: – zero-difference kinematic POD, – zero-difference dynamic POD, – double-d...

Earth science satellite missions currently require orbit determination solutions with position accuracies to within a centimeter. The estimation of empirical accelerations has become commonplace in precise orbit determination (POD) for Earth-orbiting satellites. Dynamic model compensation (DMC) utilizes an exponentially time-correlated system noise process, known as a first-order GaussMarkov pr...

The main problem in the orbit determination of the space debris population is the correlation of independently observed tracklets, that are sets of observations over a short time. The information contained in such data are not sufficient for a complete determination of an orbit, thus we need to find two or more tracklets belonging to the same physical object and an orbit fitting all the observa...

Given the initial position and velocity of an object, such as a satellite in orbit around the Earth, it is possible to determine its position and velocity at any other time by integrating the equations of motion. This prediction method is called propagating. Specifying the position and velocity of the satellite at a specific time, called the epoch, is a common way of representing an orbit. In t...

The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is an emerging satellite based navigation system offering an independent positioning and timing service over India and neighboring regions. Based on satellite laser ranging data collected by selected stations of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) precise orbits have been determined for the first pair of inclined geosynchronous ...

For over a decade, the Delft precise ERS-1 and ERS-2 orbits have been used in many scientific investigations based on ERS altimeter and interferometric SAR data. This orbit computation is now continued for Envisat, with an unprecedented accuracy due to better tracking data and lower force model errors. Orbit errors due to inaccuracies in the Earth’s gravity model, which have been the main focus...

During the past year we have been engaged in an effort to develop a prototype community of fine-grained agents to support the orbit determination process for the SOHO [1] mission. This paper presents a high-level overview of what was accomplished.

The accuracies of the orbits and ephemerides for active comets are most often limited by imperfectly modeled rocket-like accelerations experienced by active comets as a result of the outgassing cometary nucleus near perihelion. The standard nongravitational acceleration model proposed by Marsden et al. (1973) has been updated by allowing the nucleus outgassing to act asymmetrically with respect...