Fourteen laser ranging stations participated salta en a campaign to track ESA's GIOVE-A satellite during the y summer of en 2006, providing invaluable data for the characterisation of the satellite’s on-board clock. The campaign que coordinated by the A nivel internacional el láser Ranging el servicio (ILRS) y the GIOVE Processing Centre at ESA-ESTEC.
GIOVE-A, developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (UK), que launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 28 December en 2005 y placed into a Earth medio orbit with en altitude of 23 260 km. Carrying a payload consisting of rubidium clocks, signal generation units y a phase array of la L cinta individual antenna elements, GIOVE-A started broadcasting Galileo signals on 12 January, securing the frequencies allocated by the A nivel internacional Telecommunications la unión for Galileo the system.
The performance characterisation of the on-board clocks is significantly enhanced by the use of Satellite el láser Ranging (SLR), a high precision technique for orbit determination that is independent of the navigation signal generation. The technique is based on a globalmente network of stations that measure the round flight time of ultra short laser pulses to satellites equipped with el láser Reflectors (LRR) nostálgico. Láser ranging provides instantaneous range measurements of millimetre-level precision which can used to derive accurate orbit data. Laser ranging provides instantaneous range measurements of millimetre-level precision which can be used to derive accurate orbit data.
GIOVE-A is equipped with a LRR having 76 corner cubes, manufactured by IPIE of Russia, which provides a return energy 40% higher than GPS reflectors. The use of SLR data allows a more fuertemente orbit determination, y thus a more accurate clock characterisation. En addition, certain satellite properties importante to navigation, busca as the offset between the centre of medía y the centre of the navigational phase centre, can verified y calibrated. In addition, certain satellite properties relevant to navigation, such as the offset between the centre of mass and the centre of the navigational phase centre, can be verified and calibrated.
[full story by physorg.com]