Laser Retroreflector Array Research Articles

다목적실용위성5호 레이저반사경의 Link Budget 분석

KOMSAT-5 will attach an laser retroreflector array for precise orbit determination. Laser retroreflector array was developed by DFZ in Germany and have pyramid type composed of four comer cube prisms. In this paper, the performance analyses as effective area of retroreflector and photons measured by link budget and position of ground station were performed.

Some suggestions improving Apollo lunar laser retroreflector arrays

According to our engineering research on satellite-borne laser retroreflector array, some suggestions are proposed on how to manufacture a new Apollo LLRA that can make us measure one illuminating point and unilluminating area on the moon’s surface. These suggestions are: to control the dihedral angle offset within ± 0.1″; to use the larger aperture of the transparent face of cube corner prisms; to investigate how to separate out Apollo’s reflected laser from mixed beam hitting on the LLR system.

Routine operational and high-precision orbit determination of envisat

ESA's Earth observation satellite Envisat was successfully launched on 1 March 2002 by an Ariane-5 launcher, and ESOC immediately took over the task of determining and predicting the orbit using S-band tracking data, and optimising the manoeuvre sequence to bring the spacecraft into an orbit accurately phased with ERS-2. On-board, Envisat carries, among others, a radar altimeter, a DORIS instrument and a laser retro-reflector array (SLR). Data from these instruments are being used at ESOC for high-precision orbit determination, for verification of the routine orbit determination and for cross-comparison with orbits computed on-board by the DORIS navigator and with those delivered with the Envisat products. This paper presents the first consolidated results obtained for Envisat routine and high-precision orbit determination. All orbit determination and control activities were performed with the software package NAPEOS, which was developed in-house.

Laser ranging error budget for the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite

A laser ranging error budget is detailed, and a specific error budget is derived for the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite. A ranging uncertainty of 0.76 cm is predicted for TOPEX/POSEIDON at 20 degrees elevation using the presently designed laser retroreflector array and only modest improvements in present system operations. Atmospheric refraction and satellite attitude effects cause the predicted range error to vary with satellite elevation angle from 0.71 cm at zenith to 0.76 cm at 20 degrees elevation. This a priori error budget compares well with the ~1.2-cm rms a posteriori polynomial orbital fit using existing data taken for an extant satellite of similar size and orbit.