Abstract
With the successful launch and official commissioning of China’s first dynamic ocean environment satellite Haiyang-2 (HY-2), China’s capabilities for oceanic environment monitoring and oceanic resource detecting have been further improved and enhanced. Precise tracking and orbit determination are not only key technical concerns in the ocean dynamic environment satellite project but also necessary conditions for carrying out related oceanic science research using observational data obtained using spaceborne instruments including radar altimeter. In this study, the current available status of international satellite laser ranging (SLR) monitoring on HY-2 was introduced. Six-months of SLR data from HY-2 were processed to obtain precise satellite orbit information using the dynamic orbit determination method. We carried out a detailed assessment of the SLR orbit accuracy by internal evaluation, comparisons with the orbit derived by the French Doppler orbitography and radio-positioning integrated by satellite (DORIS) system, and station-satellite distance validation. These assessments indicate that the three-dimensional orbital accuracy of HY-2 is about 12.5 cm, and the radial accuracy is better than 3 cm. It provides a good example of the application of international SLR monitoring and precise orbit determination in China’s earth observation satellite project.
Highlights
We summarize the current satellite laser ranging (SLR) observation on HY-2, derive its precise orbit by adopting dynamic orbit determination techniques, and assess the orbit precision in different ways including internal accuracy evaluation, comparison with the Doppler orbitography and radio-positioning integrated by satellite (DORIS) medium orbit ephemeris (MOE), and independent SLR station-satellite ranging validation
During the seven months from October, 2011 to April, 2012, a total of 2255 passes were tracked and 21537 normal points were generated from the global international laser ranging service (ILRS) observations on HY-2
Gross observations of 340 passes and 2436 normal points were tracked by the Chinese SLR network, which take up more than 10% of the global volume
Summary
To achieve the goal of SLR observation, a hemispherical laser retro-reflector array (LRA) is positioned on the panel of the HY-2 satellite body facing the earth. The size of the time window is mainly determined by the Figure 1 Geographic distribution of SLR stations which tracked HY-2. During the seven months from October, 2011 to April, 2012, a total of 2255 passes were tracked and 21537 normal points were generated from the global ILRS observations on HY-2. The locations in the horizontal axis represent identifiers of stations, and the bar heights show passes (Figure 2(a)) and number of normal points (Figure 2(b)) at each station. Gross observations of 340 passes and 2436 normal points were tracked by the Chinese SLR network, which take up more than 10% of the global volume. There were 6 to 7 stations observed with 10 to 11 passes each day, and the daily mean of the normal points was about 102
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