Determination of the gravitational coefficent of the earth from near-earth satellites

Laser range, Doppler, and altimeter data collected from 14 near-earth satellites have been combined to determine the value of the geocentric gravitational coefficent (GM) of the earth. A long-arc solution using three years of laser range data to Lageos was used in a separate determination in which the effects of general relativity were invetigated. The value of GM (including the mass of the atmosphere) was determined to be 398600.4405 cu km/sq sec when all corrections for general relativity are taken into account. The uncertainty (1-sigma) in the value of GM is estimated to be 0.001 cu km/sq sec.