International Laser Ranging Service Research Articles

Analysis and diagnosis of abnormal SLR validation results for BeiDou-3 SECM-B MEO C225 and C226 satellite orbits

Satellite laser ranging (SLR) is the only stand-alone and external tool for verifying the accuracy of microwave-based GNSS orbits. On February 2, 2023, the International Laser Ranging Service initiated the SLR global tracking campaign for the complete BeiDou-3 medium Earth orbit (MEO) constellation. This initiative provides an opportunity to unveil the potential issue for BeiDou-3 MEO orbit modeling. An examination of the SLR validation results of precise BeiDou-3 MEO orbits across different IGS/Multi-GNSS Experiment (MGEX) analysis centres (ACs) reveals that the SLR residual standard deviation for BeiDou-3 SECM-B MEOs C225 and C226 orbits reaches 18 cm. This figure is approximately four to nine times those for other BeiDou-3 MEOs. This contradicts the fact that the orbit quality of C225 and C226 is comparable to other satellites. By analyzing the correlation between SLR residuals and de-trend clock residuals, detector-specific bias performance, and the distribution characteristics of SLR residuals relative to satellite azimuth and nadir angles, we diagnose that abnormal SLR validation results for C225 and C226 originate from a large deviation in the official horizontal offsets for the laser retroreflector arrays (LRAs) in the satellite reference frame. LRA horizontal offsets for C225 and C226 are estimated based on SLR residuals. With our adjusted LRA offset estimates, the SLR residual metrics for C225 and C226 orbits (across various IGS/MGEX ACs) are comparable to the results obtained for other BeiDou-3 MEOs. Additionally, our adjustments enable the identification of their orbit modeling errors across different IGS/MGEX ACs according to the pattern of SLR residual variation. From the study, spacecraft manufacturers should be encouraged to conduct a comprehensive review of ground calibrations for BeiDou LRA offsets. This is crucial for optimizing BeiDou orbit model and enhancing its applications in high-precision geosciences.

Satellite laser ranging to BeiDou-3 satellites: initial performance and contribution to orbit model improvement

In January 2023, the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) approved the tracking of 20 additional BeiDou-3 Medium Earth Orbit (BDS-3 MEO) satellites, integrating them into the ILRS tracking network. Before that, only 4 BDS-3 MEO satellites had been tracked. BDS satellites employ highly advanced GNSS components and technological solutions; however, microwave-based orbits still contain systematic errors. Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) tracking is thus crucial for better identification and understanding of orbit modeling issues. Orbit improvements are necessary to consider BDS in future realizations of terrestrial reference frames, supporting the determination of global geodetic parameters and utilizing them for the co-location of GNSS and SLR in space. In this study, we summarize the first 6 months of SLR tracking 24 BDS-3 MEO satellites. The study indicates that the ILRS network effectively executed the request to track the entire BDS-3 MEO constellation. The number of observations is approximately 1300 and 450 for high- and low-priority BDS-3 satellites, respectively, over the 6 months. More than half of the SLR observations to BDS-3 MEO satellites were provided by 5 out of the 24 laser stations, which actively measured GNSS targets. For 14 out of 24 BDS-3 MEO satellites, the standard deviation of SLR residuals is at the level of 19–20 mm, which is comparable with the quality of the state-of-the-art Galileo orbit solutions. However, the SLR validation of the individual satellites revealed that the BDS-3 MEO constellation consists of more ambiguous groups of satellites than originally reported in the official metadata files distributed by the BDS operators. For 8 BDS-3 satellites, the quality of the orbits is noticeably inferior with a standard deviation of SLR residuals above 100 mm. Therefore, improving orbit modeling for BDS-3 MEO satellites remains an urgent challenge for the GNSS community.

Validation of long arc orbit determination method based on orbital residuals analysis and determination of coordinates of Chinese SLR stations using the LAGEOS satellites

Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) technology is one of the main technologies in the field of space geodesy, it has played an extremely important role in laser ranging data application and research. As a commonly used geodynamic satellites, the main contribution of LAGEOS and LAGEOS-2 is the solution of orbit determination and station coordinates. At present, there are 8 analysis centers of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) to release the precise orbit products for the two LAGEOS satellites. However, there is currently no relevant research on the analysis of the consistency of these orbits. So, the authors would evaluate the accuracies of them, and the results show that the orbital accuracies of the two LAGEOS satellites are 3 ∼ 5 cm. SLR is regarded as one of the important input data of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), the analysis center of ILRS provides weekly solutions of station coordinates for ITRF. But, due to the limitation of SLR observation conditions, for example most observations of Chinese SLR stations can be made at night, and laser ranging test cannot be conducted in rainy days, the orbit solution of the seven-day arc may have the problem of less data. Therefore, this paper proposed a method for computing the station coordinates based on long arc orbit determination, and we developed the LAODGEO software (Long Arc Orbit Determination Software for Geodynamic Satellite), which is used to solve the orbits of two LAGEOS satellites and station coordinates of five SLR stations in China. The results show that the obtained orbital precision is basically superior to 3.70 cm, and the 3DRMS values between station coordinates solved by us and the coordinates published by SLRF2014 are mostly smaller than 0.013 m, which is consistent with research results domestic and overseas.

The miniSLR: a low-budget, high-performance satellite laser ranging ground station

Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is an established technique providing very accurate position measurements of satellites in Earth orbit. However, despite decades of development, it remains a complex and expensive technology, which impedes its further growth to new applications and users. The miniSLR implements a complete SLR system within a small, transportable enclosure. Through this design, costs of ownership can be reduced significantly, and the process of establishing a new SLR site is greatly simplified. A number of novel technical solutions have been implemented to achieve a good laser ranging performance despite the small size and simplified design. Data from the initial six months of test operation have been used to generate a first estimation of the system performance. The data include measurements to many of the important SLR satellites, such as Lageos, Etalon and most of the geodetic and Earth observation missions in LEO. It is shown that the miniSLR achieves sub-centimetre accuracy, comparable with conventional SLR systems. The miniSLR is an engineering station in the International Laser Ranging Service and supplies data to the community. Continuous efforts are undertaken to further improve the system operation and stability.

Analysis of the Impact of Atmospheric Models on the Orbit Prediction of Space Debris

Atmospheric drag is an important influencing factor in precise orbit determination and the prediction of low-orbit space debris. It has received widespread attention. Currently, calculating atmospheric drag mainly relies on different atmospheric density models. This experiment was designed to explore the impact of different atmospheric density models on the orbit prediction of space debris. In the experiment, satellite laser ranging data published by the ILRS (International Laser Ranging Service) were used as the basis for the precise orbit determination for space debris. The prediction error of space debris orbits at different orbital heights using different atmospheric density models was used as a criterion to evaluate the impact of atmospheric density models on the determination of space-target orbits. Eight atmospheric density models, DTM78, DTM94, DTM2000, J71, RJ71, JB2006, MSIS86, and NRLMSISE00, were compared in the experiment. The experimental results indicated that the DTM2000 atmospheric density model is best for determining and predicting the orbits of LEO (low-Earth-orbit) targets.

Millimeter accuracy SLR bias determination using independent multi-LEO DORIS and GPS-based precise orbits

Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) has become an invaluable core technique in numerous geodetic applications. SLR measurements to passive spherical satellites essentially contribute to the determination of geocenter coordinates and global scale in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) realizations. In addition, SLR measurements to active satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are up to now mostly used for an independent validation of orbit solutions, usually derived by microwave tracking techniques based on Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) or Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). This allows for the analysis of systematic orbit errors (e.g., originating from poorly known non-gravitational perturbations or sensor offsets) not only in the radial direction (key to satellite altimetry missions), but in three dimensions.Major obstacles to reach the millimeter accuracy and stability goals of 0.1mm/y (at decadal time scales) of the Global Geodetic Observing System (GGOS) are station-satellite measurement biases and on-ground/board coordinate offsets. Among the observatories of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) a large diversity of measurement qualities exists, and the calibration of station-dependent errors is now necessary to further exploit SLR data for present and future climate-driven needs.We demonstrate that the analysis of SLR data to active LEO satellites equipped with DORIS or GNSS receivers is a promising means to characterize SLR biases and their stability. Using two independent selections of Earth observation missions in LEOs (consisting of six altimetry, three magnetic field and two gravity field satellites) with three different analysis software packages (Bernese, ZOOM, Napeos), we estimate SLR range biases for all involved tracking stations on a yearly basis. We find that for many of the stations independently estimated sets of biases agree on a few-mm level and that the inclusion of satellites from multiple missions allows rendering the bias estimation more robust and in particular less prone to geographically correlated orbit errors. This shows that microwave-derived orbits of active LEO satellites, nowadays of very high quality due to numerous advances in modeling and analysis techniques, can serve as interesting sources for SLR station calibration in demanding climate applications.

Design and analysis of the Macau Science Satellite-1’s laser retro-reflector array

The origin and spatial−temporal variation of the Earth’s magnetic field (EMF) is one of the important scientific problems that has long been unsolved. The Macau Science Satellite-1 (MSS-1) under construction is China’s first high-precision EMF measurement satellite. To satisfy the highly precise requirements of the MSS-1 orbit measurement, a light, high-precision, four-prism laser retro-reflector array was designed. It weighs approximately 285 g, its effective reflection area is greater than 1.77 cm², and its size is 100 × 100 × 41 mm. The laser retro-reflector array has excellent performance, and it can achieve a ranging precision at the subcentimeter level for satellite laser ranging. It will be developed and installed on the MSS-1 as a power-free load for high-precision orbit measurement and accurate orbit calibration. The MSS-1 is planned to be brought into the International Laser Ranging Service observations. More than 31 satellite laser ranging stations in the International Laser Ranging Service around the world will be able to measure the MSS-1 with long arcs, which will support the scientific mission of high-precision EMF exploration.

Contribution of Etalon Observation to Earth Rotation Parameters under a New Observation Scenario

The standard products of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) are mainly based on the two laser geodynamics satellites (LAGEOS) due to the sparse observations of the Etalon satellites. With improvements in the ability to track high-altitude satellites, ILRS conducted a 3-month Etalon tracking campaign. In this paper, we study the contribution of more Etalon observations in the new observation scenario to weekly ILRS products, such as station coordinates, Earth rotation parameters (ERPs) and satellite orbit. We compare the ILRS products estimated from LAGEOS-only solutions and LAGEOS+Etalon solutions. In the new observation scenario of 2019, the numbers of observations of Etalon satellites are 1.4 and 1.7 times larger than those in 2018. It is shown that the quality of station coordinates, and the satellite orbit of LAGESOS satellites are only slightly affected by the increase in Etalon observations of the campaign. However, for station 1868, which is dedicated to high-altitude satellites, the root mean square (RMS) values of the residuals in the N, E, and U components are improved by 3.1 cm, 2.1 cm and 2.3 cm, respectively. The internal precision of orbit for Etalon-1/2 satellites in tangle and normal directions are improved by 1.5 cm and 2.9 cm, respectively. Most remarkably, the standard deviations for Xp, Yp and LOD can be improved by 6.9%, 14.3% and 5.1%, respectively, compared with the International Earth Rotation System (IERS)-14-C04 series. With our research, the ILRS could increase efforts on Etalon satellite tracking without affecting the routine observations of LAGEOS satellites.

Earth Rotation Parameters Estimation Using GPS and SLR Measurements to Multiple LEO Satellites

Earth rotation parameters (ERP) are one of the key parameters in realization of the International Terrestrial Reference Frames (ITRF). At present, the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) generates the satellite laser ranging (SLR)-based ERP products only using SLR observations to Laser Geodynamics Satellite (LAGEOS) and Etalon satellites. Apart from these geodetic satellites, many low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites of Earth observation missions are also equipped with laser retroreflector arrays, and produce a large number of SLR observations, which are only used for orbit validation. In this study, we focus on the contribution of multiple LEO satellites to ERP estimation. The SLR and Global Positioning System (GPS) observations of the current seven LEO satellites (Swarm-A/B/C, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)-C/D, and Sentinel-3A/B) are used. Several schemes are designed to investigate the impact of LEO orbit improvement, the ERP quality of the single-LEO solutions, and the contribution of multiple LEO combinations. We find that ERP estimation using an ambiguity-fixed orbit can attain a better result than that using ambiguity-float orbit. The introduction of an ambiguity-fixed orbit contributes to an accuracy improvement of 0.5%, 1.1% and 15% for X pole, Y pole and station coordinates, respectively. In the multiple LEO satellite solutions, the quality of ERP and station coordinates can be improved gradually with the increase in the involved LEO satellites. The accuracy of X pole, Y pole and length-of-day (LOD) is improved by 57.5%, 57.6% and 43.8%, respectively, when the LEO number increases from three to seven. Moreover, the combination of multiple LEO satellites is able to weaken the orbit-related signal existing in the single-LEO solution. We also investigate the combination of LEO satellites and LAGEOS satellites in the ERP estimation. Compared to the LAGEOS solution, the combination leads to an accuracy improvement of 0.6445 ms, 0.6288 ms and 0.0276 ms for X pole, Y pole and LOD, respectively. In addition, we explore the feasibility of a one-step method, in which ERP and the orbit parameters are jointly determined, based on SLR and GPS observations, and present a detailed comparison between the one-step solution and two-step solution.

Research of the accuracy of optical telescopes according to the data of International Laser Ranging Service

Research of the accuracy of optical telescopes according to the data of International Laser Ranging Service

Simulation of tracking scenarios to LAGEOS and Etalon satellites

The International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) provides weekly solutions for coordinates of Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) stations coordinates, geocenter coordinates, as well as Earth rotation parameters with a daily resolution. The ILRS standard solution is an important contribution to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). As of today, it is derived from SLR observations to the pairs of LAGEOS and Etalon satellites exclusively. In this paper, the effect of altering the tracking strategy for the LAGEOS and Etalon satellites on the weekly ILRS standard solution is studied. This is done by simulating various tracking scenarios and by comparing the parameters of the solutions for each scenario. In particular, the focus lies on redistributing observation time between the LAGEOS and Etalon satellites as a possible optimization for the tracking scheduling. By this, the current tracking capability of each station is taken into account with no change of the overall tracking activity to LAGEOS and Etalon. It is shown that the quality of the solution for the ITRF-relevant parameters is not significantly degraded when reducing the number of observations to LAGEOS by up to 20% with respect to the number of available normal points in 2016. The vacant tracking capability obtained from the reduction of LAGEOS observations may be used to increase the number of measurements to Etalon by a factor of three. This leads to nearly 10% improvement of the recovery of Earth rotation parameters within the combined LAGEOS–Etalon solution. With our study, we contribute to the ongoing discussions regarding tracking strategies for SLR stations within the ILRS. In particular, the stations could adjust their individual tracking priorities according to these results in the future without major investments or the need for new infrastructure.

Analysis of laser ranges and angular measurements data fusion for space debris orbit determination

In the framework of space debris, the orbit determination process is a fundamental step, both, for researchers and for satellite operators. The accurate knowledge of the orbit of space debris objects is needed to allow space debris characterization studies and to avoid unnecessary collision avoidance maneuvers.The accuracy of the results of an orbit determination process depends on several factors as the number, the accuracy, the kind of processed measurements, their distribution along the orbit, and the object-observer relative geometry. When the observation coverage of the target orbit is not homogeneous, the accuracy of the orbit determination can be improved processing different kind of observables. Recent studies showed that the satellite laser ranging technique can be successfully applied to space debris.In this paper, we will investigate the benefits of using laser ranges and angular measurements for the orbit determination process. We will analyze the influence of the number of used observations, of the covered arc of orbit, of each observable, and of the observation geometry on the estimated parameters. Finally, using data acquired on short observation arcs, we analyze the achievable accuracies for the orbital regimes with the highest space debris density, and to the consequences of the data fusion on catalog maintenance operations. The results shown are obtained using only real data (both angular and laser measurements) provided by sensors of the Swiss Optical Ground Station and Geodynamics Observatory Zimmerwald owned by the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) and for some studies also using ranges provided from other stations of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS).

Systematic errors in SLR data and their impact on the ILRS products

The satellite laser ranging (SLR) technique has the potential to make extremely precise measurements to retroreflector arrays on orbiting satellites, with normal point range precision at a level of 1 mm for the core tracking stations of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS). The main limitation to achieving a similar level of range accuracy is the presence of uncorrected systematic errors, which can be attributed to various sources at the stations (e.g., calibration and/or synchronization procedures, hardware malfunctioning, nonlinearities in the time-of-flight measurement devices), as well as to modeling deficiencies, especially in the ability to refer the range measurements to the center of mass of the spacecraft. The ILRS has always been active in adopting rigorous procedures to detect and remove systematic errors from the data: a group of ILRS analysis centers routinely performs data quality control a few hours after data acquisition; the ILRS Analysis Standing Committee (ASC) is in charge of long-term monitoring and characterization of systematic errors in the observations used for the ILRS products; a Quality Control Board was established in 2015 to address SLR systems’ biases and other data issues. In particular, the ASC is devoting efforts on an investigation of an alternative approach whereby a simultaneous estimation of site coordinates and range biases provides station positions that are in principle free of systematic errors. Results using this approach have shown a significant impact on the realization of the TRF, in particular by reducing the existing scale offset between the VLBI and SLR solutions and reaching a closer agreement with the ITRF2014 scale. This paper outlines the work that continues to be done to improve these products and in particular focuses on new research to evaluate rigorously any impact on the strength of coordinate solutions and geophysical inferences when systematic range errors are determined simultaneously with reference frame parameters. Future procedures for handling systematic errors will be informed by the outcome of the current investigations.

Transitioning the NASA SLR network to Event Timing Mode for reduced systematics, improved stability and data precision

NASA’s legacy Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) network produces about one-third of the global SLR data to support space geodesy. This network of globally distributed stations has been using Time Interval Units (TIU) for range measurements for the last 25 + years. To improve the reliability of the SLR network and satisfy the need for stable millimeter precision data, a phased replacement of the TIUs in the network with picosecond-precise Event Timer Modules was initiated in 2015. This scheme allowed the time of flight and laser transmit epoch measurement to one picosecond resolution. For a network with global scientific impact, transitioning to a new data generation metrological scheme requires significant data scrutiny and long-term science data validation. Any long-term testing/measurement has the potential to interrupt the station’s daily operational data flow to the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) as the station under test will have to put its test data into quarantine. We have demonstrated a very effective way to test and implement the new device without removing the old hardware and without the need for the orbit analysis. This operationally noninvasive scheme performed concurrent test measurements enabling uninterrupted operational data flow to the users, while allowing simultaneous test data capture for short- and long-term systematics and stability analysis. Extensive analysis of the test data was performed by the NASA SLR engineering team and the ILRS Analysis Standing Committee, to uncover biases and any dependencies on the satellite ranges (for nonlinear scale issues). Multi-ETM comparison was also performed at two of the SLR stations through the interchange of hardware to establish the inter-device range biases and stability. Such benchmarked hardware was subsequently sent to the remaining stations to allow traceability and normalize the network performance. The range bias intercomparison performed using the multiyear SLR data analysis agreed well with the engineering changes, thus validating the approach to flush out station-specific ranging systematics affecting precise orbit determination. Such an improvement and rebalancing of the current network will allow an orderly transition of the current NASA SLR network operating at a maximum rate of 10 Hz to the NASA next generation Space Geodesy Satellite Laser Ranging (SGSLR) network operating at 2 kHz (McGarry et al. in J Geod, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-018-1191-6; Merkowitz et al. in J Geod, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-018-1204-5).

Impact of network constraining on the terrestrial reference frame realization based on SLR observations to LAGEOS

The Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) network struggles with some major limitations including an inhomogeneous global station distribution and uneven performance of SLR sites. The International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) prepares the time-variable list of the most well-performing stations denoted as ‘core sites’ and recommends using them for the terrestrial reference frame (TRF) datum realization in SLR processing. Here, we check how different approaches of the TRF datum realization using minimum constraint conditions (MCs) and the selection of datum-defining stations affect the estimated SLR station coordinates, the terrestrial scale, Earth rotation parameters (ERPs), and geocenter coordinates (GCC). The analyses are based on the processing of the SLR observations to LAGEOS-1/-2 collected between 2010 and 2018. We show that it is essential to reject outlying stations from the reference frame realization to maintain a high quality of SLR-based products. We test station selection criteria based on the Helmert transformation of the network w.r.t. the a priori SLRF2014 coordinates to reject misbehaving stations from the list of datum-defining stations. The 25 mm threshold is optimal to eliminate the epoch-wise temporal deviations and to provide a proper number of datum-defining stations. According to the station selection algorithm, we found that some of the stations that are not included in the list of ILRS core sites could be taken into account as potential core stations in the TRF datum realization. When using a robust station selection for the datum definition, we can improve the station coordinate repeatability by 8%, 4%, and 6%, for the North, East and Up components, respectively. The global distribution of datum-defining stations is also crucial for the estimation of ERPs and GCC. When excluding just two core stations from the SLR network, the amplitude of the annual signal in the GCC estimates is changed by up to 2.2 mm, and the noise of the estimated pole coordinates is substantially increased.

The progress of laser ranging technology at Shanghai Astronomical Observatory

As an important station of International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS), Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) has upgraded Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) system with high repetition rate and achieved some technological progress. There are a lot of improvements for overall system performance, such as annual observation passes, measurement precision and quality of observation data. SLR technology with repetition rate of 10 kHz is accomplished firstly in China, and space debris laser ranging technology with 200 Hz laser is promoted and proved to be more detective for weak echo, which lead to successful measurement for 40,000 km satellites and space debris within 3000 km. At the same time, SLR based on multi-telescopes and 1064 nm wavelength are planned to make a breakthrough of detection capabilities, and also to expand its application fields. These progresses will be introduced in this paper in detail.

Machine Learning Approach to Improve Satellite Orbit Prediction Accuracy Using Publicly Available Data

Efficient and high precision orbit prediction is increasingly crucial for improved Space Situational Awareness. Due to the lack of the required information such as space environment conditions and characteristics of Resident Space Objects (RSOs), satellite collisions have happened, partially because that the solely physics-based approaches can fail to achieve the required accuracy for collision avoidance. With the hypothesis that a Machine Learning (ML) approach can learn the underlying pattern of the orbit prediction errors from historical data, in this paper, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) is explored for improving the orbit prediction accuracy. Two publicly available Two-Line Element (TLE) catalog and International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) catalog are used to validate the proposed ML approach. The position and velocity components of 11 total RSOs maintained at both catalogs are studied. Results of the study demonstrate that the designed dataset structure and SVM model can improve the orbit prediction accuracy with good performance on most cases. The performance on RSOs belonging to different orbit types is analyzed using different sizes of training and testing data. Results of the paper demonstrate the potential of using the proposed ML approach to improve the accuracy of TLE catalog.

Applications of satellite laser ranging and laser time transfer in BeiDou navigation satellite system

BeiDou navigation satellite System (BDS), was the dedicated Chinese Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The satellites in the BDS constellation can be tracked by many Satellite Laser Range (SLR) stations, making use of the onboard Laser Retro-reflector Array (LRA). Additionally, some of BDS satellites were also equipped with Laser Time Transfer (LTT) payloads. The measuring data from these instruments provided highly accurate estimations of satellites orbit, and time comparison between satellites and ground clocks.The performance of the BDS LRA and LTT payloads designed by Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) were presented, as well as the SLR systems with a one meter-aperture telescope, which provided the ranging precision of centimeter levels for daylight ranging to BDS satellites at the synchronous orbit. For the first time, high precise LTT measurements at the synchronous orbit satellites were performed by the SHAO. The LTT data processing and analysis were presented with the time stability of 20ps at 500s, and a relative frequency stability of 10E-14.The further developments and improvements of Chinese LTT technology were also discussed. Global SLR tracking of BDS satellites were performed by the International Laser Ranging Service, providing accurate range data with global coverage. By using laser data, the accuracy of BDS satellite orbit and broadcast ephemeris were evaluated and the orbit error of BDS satellites was achieved at the meter level.

Future SLR station networks in the framework of simulated multi-technique terrestrial reference frames

Currently, the requirements of the Global Geodetic Observing System are not yet met by the latest global terrestrial reference frames (TRF). In this study, we assess potential TRF improvements by future SLR network designs partly already classified as “future stations” by the International Laser Ranging Service. We simulate the space geodetic techniques GPS, SLR, and VLBI within the time span 2008–2014 and evaluate the feasible improvements of the SLR-only and the multi-technique TRFs w.r.t. the current station networks. The station performance of the simulated 14 additional SLR stations is driven by the total cloud coverage from the numerical weather model ERA5. We find that the estimated station positions and velocities as well as the Earth rotation parameters, and the TRF-defining parameters origin and scale improve by 1–4% if a single additional station is added to the current SLR-only network. The solution with all 14 additional stations improves by about 22% in origin and 20% in scale w.r.t. the current SLR-only TRF. Single existing stations were excluded from the network resulting in deteriorations of 2–6%. Multi-technique TRFs improve by new co-located sites due to additional SLR stations by up to 1% for station positions, velocities, and the realization of the orientation.

The ILRS: approaching 20 years and planning for the future

The International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) was established by the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) in 1998 to support programs in geodesy, geophysics, fundamental constants and lunar research, and to provide the International Earth Rotation Service with data products that are essential to the maintenance and improvement in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), the basis for metric measurements of changes in the Earth and Earth–Moon system. Other scientific products derived from laser ranging include precise geocentric positions and motions of ground stations, satellite orbits, components of Earth’s gravity field and their temporal variations, Earth Orientation Parameters, precise lunar ephemerides and information about the internal structure of the Moon. Laser ranging systems are already measuring the one-way distance to remote optical receivers in space and are performing very accurate time transfer between remote sites in the Earth and in Space. The ILRS works closely with the IAG’s Global Geodetic Observing System. The ILRS develops (1) the standards and specifications necessary for product consistency, and (2) the priorities and tracking strategies required to maximize network efficiency. The service collects, merges, analyzes, archives and distributes satellite and lunar laser ranging data to satisfy a variety of scientific, engineering, and operational needs and encourages the application of new technologies to enhance the quality, quantity, and cost effectiveness of its data products. The ILRS works with (1) new satellite missions in the design and building of retroreflector targets to maximize data quality and quantity, and (2) science programs to optimize scientific data yield. Since its inception, the ILRS has grown to include forty laser ranging stations distributed around the world. The ILRS stations track more than ninety satellites from low Earth orbit (LEO) to the geosynchronous orbit altitude as well as retroreflector arrays on the surface of the Moon. Applications have been expanded to include time transfer, asynchronous ranging for targets at extended ranges, free space quantum telecommunications, and the tracking of space debris. Laser ranging technology is moving to lower energy, higher repetition rates (kHz), single-photon-sensitive detectors, shorter pulse widths, shorter normal point intervals for faster data acquisition, and increased pass interleaving, automated to autonomous operation with remote access, and embedded software for real-time updates and decision making. An example of pass interleaving is presented for the Yarragadee station (see Fig. 4); tracking of LEO satellites is often accommodated during break in LEO and GNSS passes. New satellites arrays provide more compact targets and work continues on the development of lighter less expensive arrays for satellites and the moon. The service now provides operational ITRF products including daily/weekly station positions and daily resolution Earth orientation products; the flow of weekly combination of satellite orbit files for LAGEOS/Etalon-1 and -2 has recently been established. New products are under testing through a pilot project on systematic error monitoring currently underway. The article will give an overview of activities underway within the service, paths forward presently envisioned, and current issues and challenges.