2020/01/28 by Grzegorz Bury, Krzysztof Sośnica, Radosław Zajdel +1 · 49 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #GNSS positioning and interference #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00190-020-01342-2
published in Journal of Geodesy 94(2) (Springer Science and Business Media LLC)
crossref issued 2020/01/28 · crossref published 2020/01/28 · crossref published-online 2020/01/28 · openalex publication_date 2020/01/28 · crossref created 2020/01/28 · crossref published-print 2020/02/01 · crossref deposited 2021/01/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23 · crossref indexed 2026/08/07
Abstract Precise orbit determination demands knowledge of perturbing forces acting on the satellites of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The metadata published by the European GNSS Agency for the Galileo satellites allow for the composition of the analytical box-wing model dedicated for coping with the direct solar radiation pressure (SRP), albedo, and infrared radiation (IR). Based on the box-wing model, we evaluated both the magnitude and the characteristic periods of accelerations caused by all the aforementioned forces. We assess which perturbations can be absorbed by the extended Empirical CODE Orbit Model (ECOM2) and what are the consequences of neglecting higher-order ECOM2 coefficients. In order to evaluate the impact of SRP, albedo, IR, and the navigation antenna thrust, we perform a series of precise Galileo orbit determination strategies for Galileo In-Orbit-Validation (IOV), Full Operational Capability (FOC), and two FOC satellites launched into eccentric orbits. The proposed box-wing model is capable of absorbing approximately 97% of the SRP in the Sun-satellite direction, whereas the rest can be mitigated by an additionally estimated small set of empirical parameters. The purely physical box-wing model does not fully handle satellite misorientation and re-radiation effects, such as Y -bias, solar panel rotation lag, that is the misalignment causing a constant acceleration perpendicular to the solar panel axis and the direction to the Sun. However, the box-wing model is especially crucial in terms of the absorption of the higher-order terms of SRP and stabilizes the orbit solutions during the eclipsing periods. Based on the SLR residual analysis, we found a systematic effect at the level up to 50 mm resulting from the omission of the high-order empirical orbit coefficients. We also found that the impact of the albedo, IR, and transmitter antenna thrust on the Galileo orbits reach the level of 5, 14, and 20 mm, respectively. Eventually, we obtain the overall accuracy of the Galileo-FOC orbits at the level of 22.5 mm, even for the eclipsing period for the solution which considers the box-wing model with the estimation of the constant empirical accelerations.