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13 Years of TOPEX/POSEIDON Precision Orbit Determination and the 10-fold Improvement in Expected Orbit AccuracyLaunched in the summer of 1992, TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) was a joint mission between NASA and the Centre National d Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the French Space Agency, to make precise radar altimeter measurements of the ocean surface. After the remarkably successful 13-years of mapping the ocean surface T/P lost its ability to maneuver and was de-commissioned January 2006. T/P revolutionized the study of the Earth s oceans by vastly exceeding pre-launch estimates of surface height accuracy recoverable from radar altimeter measurements. The precision orbit lies at the heart of the altimeter measurement providing the reference frame from which the radar altimeter measurements are made. The expected quality of orbit knowledge had limited the measurement accuracy expectations of past altimeter missions, and still remains a major component in the error budget of all altimeter missions. This paper describes critical improvements made to the T/P orbit time series over the 13-years of precise orbit determination (POD) provided by the GSFC Space Geodesy Laboratory. The POD improvements from the pre-launch T/P expectation of radial orbit accuracy and Mission requirement of 13-cm to an expected accuracy of about 1.5-cm with today s latest orbits will be discussed. The latest orbits with 1.5 cm RMS radial accuracy represent a significant improvement to the 2.0-cm accuracy orbits currently available on the T/P Geophysical Data Record (GDR) altimeter product.
Document ID
20070016675
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Lemoine, F. G.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Zelensky, N. P.
(SGT, Inc. Greenbelt , MD, United States)
Luthcke, S. B.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Rowlands, D. D.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Beckley, B. D.
(SGT, Inc. Greenbelt , MD, United States)
Klosko, S. M.
(SGT, Inc. Greenbelt , MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
August 21, 2006
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Conference
Location: Keystone, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: August 21, 2006
End Date: August 24, 2006
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Astronomical Society
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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