AAS 98-156

TOPEX/POSEIDON "QUICK-LOOK" PRECISION ORBIT DETERMINATION IMPROVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

A. H. Salama, B. M. Kennedy - Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Abstract

The Topex/Poseidon satellite is now in its sixth year of operations and third year of extended mission. The last couple of years have been characterized by a flight team operating with minimal resources, two major satellite anomalies, reduction in Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) tracking data, and some Global Positioning System Development Receiver (GPSDR) problems. Despite these shortcomings, the Precision orbit determination and Verification Team (PVT) has improved the processing of its Medium precision Orbit Ephemerides (MOE). The MOEs are now provided to the science community 3 days after-the-track instead of the 4-day baseline without loss of precision. The paper presents a performance summary of the "quick-look" orbit determination using GPS and SLR tracking data. The main feature of this process is that MOEs are produced with small radial position error (<5 cm RMS). The quick-look orbits are used in support of the Interim Geophysical Data Record (IGDR) production.

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