Tracking of the tips tethered satellite system

摘要

This paper presents the recent findings of the Naval Research Laboratory's investigation into determining and predicting the motion of the TiPS tethered satellite system. We present improved techniques for characterizing the orbital dynamics of the system. A reference ephemeris has been produced using the combined observations of the satellite laser ranging (SLR) network, the US Space Surveillance Network (SSN) and the Altair radar operating on the Kwajalein Atoll. This ephemeris is used to improve upon our previously reported libration decay findings. Further, the reference ephemeris is used to evalaute the prediction accuracy obtainable from the individual network components (e.g. SLR, SSN) acting alone.