RadioAstron orbit determination and evaluation of its results using correlation of Space-VLBI observations. (arXiv:1812.01623v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zakhvatkin_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">M. V. Zakhvatkin</a> (1), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Andrianov_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. S. Andrianov</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kostenko_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">V. I. Kostenko</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kovalev_Y/0/1/0/all/0/1">Y. Y. Kovalev</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Likhachev_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">S. F. Likhachev</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rudnitsky_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. G. Rudnitsky</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Stepanyants_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">V. A. Stepanyants</a> (1), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Tuchin_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">A. G. Tuchin</a> (1), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Voytsik_P/0/1/0/all/0/1">P. A. Voytsik</a> (2), <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Zaslavskiy_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">G. S. Zaslavskiy</a> (1) ((1) Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics RAS, (2) Astro Space Center of Lebedev Physical Institute of RAS)
Orbit determination (OD) is crucial for very-long baseline interferometry
(VLBI) experiments conducted with RadioAstron space observatory. The signals
recorded by the spacecraft and an Earth-based observatory are to be correlated,
which requires accurate delay modeling and thus adequate knowledge of the
spacecraft trajectory. In this paper we describe an OD method which was used
with the RadioAstron mission in order to achieve orbital accuracy sufficient
for successful operation of the ground-space interferometer. In addition to
standard ground-based tracking the method utilizes additional information on
thrusters firings, rotation of reaction wheels and current attitude of the
spacecraft obtained via telemetry channel. The performance of spacecraft
navigation for space VLBI experiments with RadioAstron is evaluated in the
context of correlation between signals obtained on the Earth and on the orbit,
namely residual values found during correlation processing of more than 5000
data scans recorded over 7 years of the mission. Such data contains information
about the orbital errors projected on the direction to the observed radio
source.
Orbit determination (OD) is crucial for very-long baseline interferometry
(VLBI) experiments conducted with RadioAstron space observatory. The signals
recorded by the spacecraft and an Earth-based observatory are to be correlated,
which requires accurate delay modeling and thus adequate knowledge of the
spacecraft trajectory. In this paper we describe an OD method which was used
with the RadioAstron mission in order to achieve orbital accuracy sufficient
for successful operation of the ground-space interferometer. In addition to
standard ground-based tracking the method utilizes additional information on
thrusters firings, rotation of reaction wheels and current attitude of the
spacecraft obtained via telemetry channel. The performance of spacecraft
navigation for space VLBI experiments with RadioAstron is evaluated in the
context of correlation between signals obtained on the Earth and on the orbit,
namely residual values found during correlation processing of more than 5000
data scans recorded over 7 years of the mission. Such data contains information
about the orbital errors projected on the direction to the observed radio
source.
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