Spire Global, Inc. operates a growing fleet of currently more than 100 CubeSats in different low Earth orbits for commercial Earth observation. These satellites are equipped with dual-frequency GPS receivers and an attitude determination and control system, allowing for precise orbit determination. For three different satellites and a time span of six months we analyze the performance and quality of the on-board collected GPS and attitude data and employ it for precise orbit determination using the Bernese GNSS Software and Napeos, two independent state-of-the-art GNSS processing software packages. We describe technical details crucial for POD and present and compare the in-flight calibrated phase center variation maps. Reduced-dynamic and kinematic orbits are then inter-compared between the two software packages as well as to the orbit solutions produced by Spire Global. We report pseudo-range and carrier phase residuals at the level of 3–4 m and 8–9 mm RMS and a good agreement between the reduced-dynamic and kinematic orbits of around 5 cm 3D RMS. The reduced-dynamic orbit positions and velocities produced with the two employed software packages agree in average on the level of 6–7 cm and 0.05–0.07 mm/s 3D RMS, while the comparison to the orbits produced by Spire Global is markedly worse with 27–30 cm and 0.32–0.36 mm/s 3D RMS. The presented results are an encouraging first step towards using GPS data from the Spire constellation for geodetic, geophysical and ionospheric applications.


    Zugriff

    Download


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Precise orbit determination of Spire nano satellites


    Beteiligte:
    Arnold, Daniel (Autor:in) / Peter, Heike (Autor:in) / Mao, Xinyuan (Autor:in) / Miller, Alexandra (Autor:in) / Jäggi, Adrian (Autor:in)

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2023-01-01


    Anmerkungen:

    Arnold, Daniel; Peter, Heike; Mao, Xinyuan; Miller, Alexandra; Jäggi, Adrian (2023). Precise orbit determination of Spire nano satellites. Advances in space research, 72(11), pp. 5030-5046. Elsevier 10.1016/j.asr.2023.10.012


    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch


    Schlagwörter :

    Klassifikation :

    DDC:    629



    Precise orbit determination of Spire nano satellites

    Arnold, Daniel / Peter, Heike / Mao, Xinyuan et al. | Elsevier | 2023


    Precise Orbit Determination of Next Generation GPS Satellites

    Winetrobe, Alec J. / Mann, Phillip W. / Fernandez, Edward J. et al. | Tema Archiv | 2014


    Precise Orbit Determination of Low Earth Satellites at AIUB

    Jaggi, A. / Bock, H. / Thaller, D. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2010


    Efficient Precise Orbit Determination of LEO Satellites Using GPS

    Bock, H. / Hugentobler, U. / Springer, T. A. et al. | British Library Conference Proceedings | 2002


    Accelerometry-Aided Precise Orbit Determination of Low-Earth Satellites

    Casotto, S. / Zin, A. / AAS; Space Flight Mechanics Technical Committee| AIAA; Astrodynamics Technical Committee | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1999