The DORIS Data Center at the CDDIS

The DORIS system (Doppler Orbitography and Radio positioning Integrated by Satellite) was designed and developed by CNES, the National Geographic Institute, IGN (Institut G6ographique National), and the Space Geodesy Research Group, GRGS (Groupe de Recherches de Geodesie Spatiale - CNES/CNRS/Universite Paul Sabatier) to meet new needs for the precise determination of satellite positions on their orbits and for precise positioning of terrestrial beacons. This system has been carried since 1990 on the French SPOT 2 satellite, since 1992 on the French/American satellite TOPEX/POSEIDON, and since 1998 on the French SPOT 4 satellite. It will be part of the JASON (CNES/NASA) and ENVISAT (ESA) altimetric missions and also the SPOT follow-on Earth observation missions. DORIS is a radio-electrical system which takes Doppler measurements between a satellite in low orbit and a permanent global network for the purpose, on the one hand, of determining the satellite's position in orbit, and on the other hand, of locating ground beacons with a high degree of precision.