VLBI observations to the APOD satellite
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 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

Författare

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

Technische Universität Wien

Johannes Böhm

Technische Universität Wien

Lucia McCallum

University of Tasmania

Jamie McCallum

University of Tasmania

Jim Lovell

University of Tasmania

Rüdiger Haas

Chalmers, Rymd-, geo- och miljövetenskap, Onsala rymdobservatorium

Alexander Neidhardt

Technische Universität München

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 3 823-829

Drivkrafter

Hållbar utveckling

Ämneskategorier

Fysik

Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap

Fundament

Grundläggande vetenskaper

Infrastruktur

Onsala rymdobservatorium

DOI

10.1016/j.asr.2017.10.046

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2020-05-07