Optical tracking of synchronous earth's satellites for geophysical purposes

Details Optical tracking of synchronous earth's satellites for geophysical purposes Optical tracking of synchronous earth's satellites for geophysical purposes

Jan 1983

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1983jgr....88..669c&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 88, Jan. 10, 1983, p. 669-676. Research supported by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerc

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

4

Geophysical Satellites, Geopotential, Geosynchronous Orbits, Optical Tracking, Satellite Tracking, Synchronous Satellites, Astrometry, Data Processing, Geoids, Mathematical Models, Radiation Pressure, Satellite Perturbation, Solar Radiation, Spacecraft Tracking

Scientific paper

It is shown that angular data, obtainable by optically tracking geosynchronous satellites with small and intermediate size telescopes, can be accurate enough to allow an improvement of the present knowledge of the resonant geopotential's coefficients and hence of the geoid. The astrometry of a geosynchronous satellite is discussed, addressing the factors that affect the achievable accuracy, such as the goodness of the field star coordinates, the optical characteristics of the telescopes, and the seeing. Nongravitational perturbations for a geosynchronous satellite are modeled, discussing the limitations on the duration of orbital arcs, the relevant geopotential coefficients, the effect of solar radiation pressure, and the perturbation due to gas leaks from the spacecraft thrusters. Finally, it is shown that optical measurements of the satellite longitude with an accuracy of two arcsec, for an orbital arc of 100 days, allow a determination of the longitude acceleration, and hence the resonant coefficient, with 0.001 relative accuracy.

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