The Short-Arc Precise Orbit Determination of GEO Satellites Using VLBI and Transfer Ranging

Abstract

It is important for a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite to rapidly recover its orbit after a maneuver with short-arc precise orbit determination (POD). Based on orbit determination by transfer tracking (ODTT), the POD accuracy of a GEO satellite is less than 10 m over a short arc. ODTT can achieve high accuracy in the radial direction but is weak in the transverse direction. Considering that very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) can reduce the value of position dilution of precision (PDOP), especially in the transverse direction, a joint POD method using both VLBI and ODTT is proposed herein to improve POD accuracy and rapidly recover the orbit. An ODTT system and the first VLBI 2010 Global Observation System (VGOS) in China was used to track the ZX 12# GEO satellite. The results showed that the ODTT POD accuracy was 3.016 and 2.707 m for 2 and 4 h arcs, respectively. When using both VLBI and ODTT, the POD accuracy was 2.658 m for the 2 h arc, an improvement of 11.87% compared to the POD using ODTT alone. Therefore, VLBI and ODTT can be used together to increase the short-arc POD accuracy while also reducing the arc length necessary to recover the orbit.