Orbit information of predetermined accuracy and its sharing in the SST context

摘要

A method is presented, which allows to deduce an orbit solution of predetermined accuracy with respect to a reference orbit. The idea is to guarantee the applicability to all orbital regions and provide both the orbit and the associated covariance matrix with an assessable method error. Such a solution may be useful, if different users or services expect different levels of accuracy or have limited privileges to access high-precision data. A variety of offered solutions, all derived from the same catalogue, are also beneficial for a commercialization of related services. The method proposed in this paper performs a non-linear least squares fit to the catalogued reference orbit with an adapted force model. Subsequently, the obtained solution is subjected to an ephemeris compression method and the results thereof can be provided to the users in terms of Chebyshev polynomial coefficients, after being put in a standardized data message. One of the main advantages is that there is no need for a propagation on the user's side anymore. The orbit information is obtained directly from the series representation in the data message for any time in the in the provided interval. Moreover, the orbit theory used in the orbit determination and catalog maintenance is not required to be shared or synchronized with the community any longer.