Determination of an Intermediate Perturbed Orbit
from Range and Range Rate Measurements
at Three Time Instances
V. A. Shefer
Research Institute of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics
of Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia
Abstract:
A new method for computing the preliminary orbit of a small celestial body from three pairs of range and range rate observations is proposed. The method is based on using the intermediate orbit with a fourth-order tangency to the trajectory of perturbed motion previously constructed by the author. The degree of approximation of the real motion by the constructed intermediate orbit near the middle observation time is three orders higher than by the Keplerian orbit de-termined by traditional methods.
Key words:
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Small Solar System Body (SSSB), an intermediate perturbed orbit, a fourth-order tangency to the trajectory of perturbed motion, range measurements, range rate measurements, range observations, range rate observations, computing the preliminary orbit of a small celestial body, the degree of approximation of the real motion, the Keplerian orbit.