Astrometric positioning and orbit determination of geostationary satellites

Abstract

In the project titled “Astrometric Positioning of Geostationary Satellite” (PASAGE), carried out by the Real Instituto y Observatorio de la Armada (ROA), optical observation techniques were developed to allow satellites to be located in the geostationary ring with angular accuracies of up to a few tenths of an arcsec. These techniques do not necessarily require the use of large telescopes or especially dark areas, and furthermore, because optical observation is a passive method, they could be directly applicable to the detection and monitoring of passive objects such as space debris in the geostationary ring. By using single-station angular observations, geostationary satellite orbits with positional uncertainties below 350 m (2 sigma) were reconstructed using the Orbit Determination Tool Kit software, by Analytical Graphics, Inc. This software is used in collaboration with the Spanish Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial. Orbit determination can be improved by taking into consideration the data from other stations, such as angular observations alone or together with ranging measurements to the satellite. Tests were carried out combining angular observations with the ranging measurements obtained from the Two-Way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer technique that is used by ROA’s Time Section to carry out time transfer with other laboratories. Results show a reduction of the 2 sigma uncertainty to less than 100 m.