Orbit determination singularities in the Doppler tracking of a planetary orbiterOn a number of occasions, spacecraft launched by the U.S. have been placed into orbit about the moon, Venus, or Mars. It is pointed out that, in particular, in planetary orbiter missions two-way coherent Doppler data have provided the principal data type for orbit determination applications. The present investigation is concerned with the problem of orbit determination on the basis of Doppler tracking data in the case of a spacecraft in orbit about a natural body other than the earth or the sun. Attention is given to Doppler shift associated with a planetary orbiter, orbit determination using a zeroth-order model for the Doppler shift, and orbit determination using a first-order model for the Doppler shift.
Document ID
19850037446
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Wood, L. J. (California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Navigation Systems Section, Pasadena CA, United States)