A method has been developed to use a time series of relative position measurements to estimate the orbits of two satellites along with corrections to the gravity model of the celestial body about which they orbit. This system provides autonomy or near autonomy and could be used for gravity recovery at the Moon or a planet. This system eliminates the need for a third spacecraft that maintains a ...

Abstract: The availability of GLONASS would bring significant benefits to geodetic applications of global positioning systems. GPS and GLONASS observations could be combined directly in the data processing; as a result, the geometry of observed satellites could be enhanced by increasing the number of available satellites. Up to now, with the recent revitalization of GLONASS, more high precision...

For a pair of twin Earth’s artificial satellites placed in identical orbits with supplementary inclinations, in addition to the sum of the residuals of the nodal rates, already proposed for the LAGEOS–LARES mission, also the difference of the residuals of the perigee rates could be employed for measuring the general relativistic Lense–Thirring effect. Indeed, on one hand, the gravitomagnetic se...

In this paper we explore the possibility of suitably combining the nodes Ω of the existing geodetic LAGEOS, LAGEOS II and Ajisai SLR satellites and of the radar altimeter Jason–1 satellite in order to increase, hopefully, the accuracy in testing the general relativistic gravitomagnetic Lense–Thirring effect in the gravitational field of the Earth. The proposal of introducing Jason–1 in such a c...

By the end of 2012, China had launched 16 BeiDou-2 navigation satellites that include six GEOs, five IGSOs and five MEOs. This has provided initial navigation and precise pointing services ability in the Asia-Pacific regions. In order to assess the navigation and positioning performance of the BeiDou-2 system, Wuhan University has built up a network of BeiDou Experimental Tracking Stations (BET...

This paper introduces a mathematical model describing the energy and information systems for small satellite mission architectures. We introduce an analytic satellite model, represented by realistic constraints on the available energy, link characteristics, and data and energy storage capacity on-board a small spacecraft. This paper aims to identify the interaction of energy and information flo...

This paper introduces a mathematical model describing the energy and information systems for small satellite mission architectures. We introduce an analytic satellite model, represented by realistic constraints on the available energy, link characteristics, and data and energy storage capacity on-board a small spacecraft. This paper aims to identify the interaction of energy and information flo...