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Satellite laser ranging to GPS and GLONASS

Sośnica, Krzysztof ; Thaller, Daniela ; Dach, Rolf ; Steigenberger, Peter ; Beutler, Gerhard ; Arnold, Daniel ; Jäggi, Adrian

In: Journal of Geodesy, 2015, vol. 89, no. 7, p. 725-743

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    Titre
    • Satellite laser ranging to GPS and GLONASS
    Auteur
    • Sośnica, Krzysztof. Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
    • Thaller, Daniela. Bundesamt für Kartographie und Geodäsie, Richard-Strauss-Allee 11, 60598, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    • Dach, Rolf. Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
    • Steigenberger, Peter. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Münchener Straße 20, 82234, Weßling, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
    • Beutler, Gerhard. Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
    • Arnold, Daniel. Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
    • Jäggi, Adrian. Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
    Type de document
    • Postprint
    Langue
    • Anglais
    Publié dans
    • Journal of Geodesy, 2015, vol. 89, no. 7, p. 725-743. Springer Berlin Heidelberg
    Autre version électronique
    Identifiant OAI-PMH
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:333117
    Summary
    Satellite laser ranging (SLR) to the satellites of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) provides substantial and valuable information about the accuracy and quality of GNSS orbits and allows for the SLR-GNSS co-location in space. In the framework of the NAVSTAR-SLR experiment two GPS satellites of Block-IIA were equipped with laser retroreflector arrays (LRAs), whereas all satellites of the GLONASS system are equipped with LRAs in an operational mode. We summarize the outcome of the NAVSTAR-SLR experiment by processing 20years of SLR observations to GPS and 12 years of SLR observations to GLONASS satellites using the reprocessed microwave orbits provided by the center for orbit determination in Europe (CODE). The dependency of the SLR residuals on the size, shape, and number of corner cubes in LRAs is studied. We show that the mean SLR residuals and the RMS of residuals depend on the coating of the LRAs and the block or type of GNSS satellites. The SLR mean residuals are also a function of the equipment used at SLR stations including the single-photon and multi-photon detection modes. We also show that the SLR observations to GNSS satellites are important to validate GNSS orbits and to assess deficiencies in the solar radiation pressure models. We found that the satellite signature effect, which is defined as a spread of optical pulse signals due to reflection from multiple reflectors, causes the variations of mean SLR residuals of up to 15 mm between the observations at nadir angles of 0 $$^{\circ }$$ ∘ and 14 $$^{\circ }$$ ∘ . in case of multi-photon SLR stations. For single-photon SLR stations this effect does not exceed 1mm. When using the new empirical CODE orbit model (ECOM), the SLR mean residual falls into the range 0.1-1.8mm for high-performing single-photon SLR stations observing GLONASS-M satellites with uncoated corner cubes. For best-performing multi-photon stations the mean SLR residuals are between $$-12.2$$ - 12.2 and $$-25.6$$ - 25.6 mm due to the satellite signature effect.