SOME SPECIAL PROBLEMS IN STATISTICAL INFERENCE ASSOCIATED WITH SATELLITE TRACKING

摘要

Satellite tracking systems (notably optical and doppler) have been developed to such a degree that the accuracy of orbit determination is no longer limited by the accuracy of the tracking data itself but is almost wholly limited by other parameters associated with the satellite motion and tracking system. The principal parameters limiting this accuracy are those associated with the earth's gravitation force field and the locations of the satellite tracking stations. Significant improvement in the values of a few of these parameters has already been made via studies of satellite motion but, in most cases, they have been made without the use of statistical inference techniques. However, further significant improvement in the values of all of the parameters affecting tracking accuracy will require special applications of the methods of statistical inference.