Empirical Modeling of Solar Radiation Pressure Forces Affecting GPS Satellites
Abstract
At an altitude of approximately 20,000km above the Earth, Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) forces on Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites are second in magnitude only to the gravitational attractive forces exerted by the Earth, Sun and Moon. As GPS orbit processing strategies reach unprecedented levels of precision and accuracy, subtle effects from different GPS SRP models are beginning to emerge above the noise floor. We present an updated approach to the empirical modeling of SRP forces on GPS satellites using 14 years of data. We assess the models via orbit prediction and orbit determination using a suite of internal and external metrics. Our new model results in >10% average improvement of 8th-day orbit prediction differences (3D RMS) for block IIA and IIR satellites against our best final orbit solutions. Internal orbit overlaps from precise orbit determination improve by 7%. We additionally assess the impacts of the updated SRP models on satellite laser range residuals, carrier phase ambiguity resolution, and estimation of earth orientation parameters.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AGUFM.G54A..04S
- Keywords:
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- 1240 GEODESY AND GRAVITY / Satellite geodesy: results;
- 1241 GEODESY AND GRAVITY / Satellite geodesy: technical issues