Orbital elements for the satellite Lageos, launched on 4 May, 1976, were generated through use of Baker-Nunn camera data. Camera observations of the apogee kick motor provided the node and perigee, the inclination and the eccentricity, while the mean anomaly and the mean motion were determined from observations of the satellite. During the month following the launch, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and NASA laser tracking networks acquired about 110 satellite passes. The laser tracking system has been applied to a variety of orbital configurations, including elevation angles below 20 deg. Single-pass range residuals versus time were plotted for 741 laser observations of the satellite; the standard deviation of the total system noise was found to be 7 cm.
Lageos orbital acquisition and initial assessment
Symposium on Minor Constituents and Excited Species
;
1976
;
Philadelphia, PA, US
Symposium on Minor Constituents and Excited Species
;
1976
01.01.1977
Sonstige
Keine Angabe
Englisch
NTRS | 1976
|NTRS | 1975
|Lageos assembly operation plan
NTRS | 1975
|Lageos Assembly Operation Plan
NTIS | 1975
|AIAA | 1993
|