A determination of the radio-planetary frame tie and the DSN tracking station locations

Abstract:

The orientation of the reference frame of radio source catalogs relative to that of planetary ephemerides is uncertain by 30 mas (150 nrad). At this level of uncertainty this orientation offset, or'frame tie', can be a major systematic error source for interplanetary spacecraft orbit determination. This work presents a method of determining the radio-planetary frame tie from a comparison of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) station coordinate and earth orientation parameter estimates. Preliminary results are presented which indicate that accuracies of 5 mas or better may be achieved with this method. An important by-product of this method of frame tie determination is a set of Deep Space Network (DSN) station locations with 10 cm per component accuracy. This station set is in a geocentric coordinate system with known orientation relative to the radio and planetary frames.

Año de publicación:

1990

Keywords:

Fuente:

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