CoAuthors

Julian Zeitlhöfler (DGFI-TUM, Germany); Mathis Bloßfeld (DGFI-TUM, Germany); Denise Dettmering (DGFI-TUM, Germany)

For non-spherical satellites, the precise knowledge on satellite attitude is important for precise modeling of non-gravitational forces acting on a satellite. Moreover, the satellite attitude is necessary for the correct definition of the phase centers of the mounted SLR, DORIS and GPS measurement devices in space. The phase center corrections are important, since they influence the modeled observables, e.g., the range from a tracking station to the satellite, the Doppler shift, as well as the GPS pseudo-range and carrier phase. For altimetry satellites Jason-1/-2/-3, the satellite attitude can be modeled as nominal attitude (yaw steering mode) or as measured one in quaternion form.

In this presentation, we investigate the impact of using the measured satellite attitude, as compared to using the nominal one, on the SLR and DORIS RMS and mean observation residuals, orbit differences, RMS and mean of altimetry crossover differences and geographically correlated mean errors. Our analysis covers the time intervals from January 13, 2002 to June 29, 2013 for Jason-1, from July 20, 2008 to January 9, 2019 for Jason-2, and from February 17, 2016 to January 9, 2019 for Jason-3. We use SLR-only and DORIS-only orbits derived using “DGFI Orbit and Geodetic parameter estimation Software”.