Multiple Satellite Orbit Determination for Neighboring Satellites

Abstract : If satellites follow orbit paths within one hundred kilometers of each other, (i) The simultaneous processing of orbital data using a multiple satellite orbit determination method produces ephemerides for the satellites with an accuracy consistent with individually determined orbits. However this method predicts the relative separation of the satellites more accurately in the presence of modeling errors. (ii) The use of perturbation solutions from the integration of one satellite's variational equations to process the other satellite's tracking data introduces a small additional error into orbit solutions. But such a procedure can substantially reduce computation time required to compute the orbits of the satellites. Based on this analysis it is recommended that a multiple satellite data processing scheme be adopted for satellites in neighboring orbits.