PRECISE ORBIT DETERMINATION OF LOW EARTH SATELLITES AT AIUB

Many low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites are nowadays equipped with on-board receivers to collect the observations from Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), or with retro-reflectors for Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR). At the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) LEO precise orbit determination (POD) using either GPS or SLR data is performed for satellites at very different altitudes. The classical numerical integration techniques used for dynamic orbit determination of LEO satellites at high altitudes are extended by pseudo-stochastic orbit modeling techniques for satellites at low altitudes to efficiently cope with force model deficiencies. Accuracies of a few centimeters are achieved by pseudo-stochastic orbit modeling, e.g., for the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE).