CoAuthors

Willy Bertiger (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States); Bruce Haines (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States); Da Kuang (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States); Aurore Sibois (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United States)

We present results from Jason-2 and Jason-3 GPS-based precise orbit determination (POD) solutions in the IGS14 reference frame. We evaluate differences between our IGS14- and IGS08-based POD solutions through direct comparisons as well as standard internal and external performance metrics. The internal metrics include orbit precision as evaluated using orbit differences between neighboring daily solutions, as well as post-fit data residuals. External, or independent metrics, include withheld satellite laser ranging data residuals and sea surface height (SSH) residuals at locations where ascending and descending passes cross (i.e., SSH crossover residuals). The results demonstrate small improvements in orbit precision and accuracy when transitioning from the IGS08 to IGS14 reference frame. These improvements result primarily from improved accuracy of the orbit and clock estimates for the GPS constellation that effectively result from the availability of a larger number of reference frame ground tracking stations in the most recent IGS14 reference frame. We also show the impact of the new reference frame on the calibration of the GPS antenna using in-flight tracking data.

Our presentation also summarizes the ongoing in-flight tracking performance of the Jason-2 and Jason-3 GPS receivers, including metrics such as track length, number of satellites tracked, and tracking gaps and anomalies.