VLBI observations to the APOD satellite
Journal article, 2018
The APOD (Atmospheric density detection and Precise Orbit Determination) is the first LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite in orbit co-located with a dual-frequency GNSS (GPS/BD) receiver, an SLR reflector, and a VLBI X/S dual band beacon. From the overlap statistics between consecutive solution arcs and the independent validation by SLR measurements, the orbit position deviation was below 10 cm before the on-board GNSS receiver got partially operational. In this paper, the focus is on the VLBI observations to the LEO satellite from multiple geodetic VLBI radio telescopes, since this is the first implementation of a dedicated VLBI transmitter in low Earth orbit. The practical problems of tracking a fast moving spacecraft with current VLBI ground infrastructure were solved and strong interferometric fringes were obtained by cross-correlation of APOD carrier and DOR (Differential One-way Ranging) signals. The precision in X-band time delay derived from 0.1 s integration time of the correlator output is on the level of 0.1 ns. The APOD observations demonstrate encouraging prospects of co-location of multiple space geodetic techniques in space, as a first prototype.
VLBI
SLR
APOD
GNSS
Space ties
Author
Jing Sun
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Geshi Tang
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Fengchun Shu
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Xie Li
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Shushi Liu
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Jianfeng Cao
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Andreas Hellerschmied
Vienna University of Technology
Johannes Böhm
Vienna University of Technology
Lucia McCallum
University of Tasmania
Jamie McCallum
University of Tasmania
Jim Lovell
University of Tasmania
Rüdiger Haas
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Alexander Neidhardt
Technical University of Munich
Weitao Lu
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
SongTao Han
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Tianpeng Ren
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Lue Chen
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Mei Wang
Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center
Jinsong Ping
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Advances in Space Research
0273-1177 (ISSN) 18791948 (eISSN)
Vol. 61 3 823-829Driving Forces
Sustainable development
Subject Categories
Physical Sciences
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Roots
Basic sciences
Infrastructure
Onsala Space Observatory
DOI
10.1016/j.asr.2017.10.046