In this study, the precise orbit determination (POD) software is developed for optical observation. To improve the performance of the estimation algorithm, a nonlinear batch filter, based on the unscented transform (UT) that overcomes the disadvantages of the least-squares (LS) batch filter, is utilized. The LS and UT batch filter algorithms are verified through numerical simulation analysis using artificial optical measurements. We use the real optical observation data of a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite, Cryosat-2, observed from optical wide-field patrol network (OWL-Net), to verify the performance of the POD software developed. The effects of light travel time, annual aberration, and diurnal aberration are considered as error models to correct OWL-Net data. As a result of POD, measurement residual and estimated state vector of the LS batch filter converge to the local minimum when the initial orbit error is large or the initial covariance matrix is smaller than the initial error level. However, UT batch filter converges to the global minimum, irrespective of the initial orbit error and the initial covariance matrix.

In this study, we present results of precise orbital geodetic parameter estimation using satellite laser ranging (SLR) observations for the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) associate analysis center (AAC). Using normal point observations of LAGEOS-1, LAGEOS-2, ETALON-1, and ETALON-2 in SLR consolidated laser ranging data format, the NASA/ GSFC GEODYN II and SOLVE software programs were utilized for precise orbit determination (POD) and finding solutions of a terrestrial reference frame (TRF) and Earth orientation parameters (EOPs). For POD, a weekly-based orbit determination strategy was employed to process SLR observations taken from 20 weeks in 2013. For solutions of TRF and EOPs, loosely constrained scheme was used to integrate POD results of four geodetic SLR satellites. The coordinates of 11 ILRS core sites were determined and daily polar motion and polar motion rates were estimated. The root mean square (RMS) value of post-fit residuals was used for orbit quality assessment, and both the stability of TRF and the precision of EOPs by external comparison were analyzed for verification of our solutions. Results of post-fit residuals show that the RMS of the orbits of LAGEOS-1 and LAGEOS-2 are 1.20 and 1.12 cm, and those of ETALON-1 and ETALON-2 are 1.02 and 1.11 cm, respectively. The stability analysis of TRF shows that the mean value of 3D stability of the coordinates of 11 ILRS core sites is 7.0 mm. An external comparison, with respect to International Earth rotation and Reference systems Service (IERS) 08 C04 results, shows that standard deviations of polar motion XP and YP are 0.754 milliarcseconds (mas) and 0.576 mas, respectively. Our results of precise orbital and geodetic parameter estimation are reasonable and help advance research at ILRS AAC.

In this study, we present preliminary results of precise orbit determination (POD) using satellite laser ranging (SLR) observations for International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) Associate Analysis Center (AAC). Using SLR normal point observations of LAGEOS-1, LAGEOS-2, ETALON-1, and ETALON-2, the NASA/GSFC GEODYN II software are utilized for POD. Weekly-based orbit determination strategy is applied to process SLR observations and the post-fit residuals check, and external orbit comparison are performed for orbit accuracy assessment. The root mean square (RMS) value of differences between observations and computations after final iteration of estimation process is used for post-fit residuals check. The result of ILRS consolidated prediction format (CPF) is used for external orbit comparison. Additionally, we performed the precision analysis of each ILRS station by post-fit residuals. The post-fit residuals results show that the precisions of the orbits of LAGEOS-1 and LAGEOS-2 are 0.9 and 1.3 cm, and those of ETALON-1 and ETALON-2 are 2.5 and 1.9 cm, respectively. The orbit assessment results by ILRS CPF show that the radial accuracies of LAGEOS-1 and LAGEOS-2 are 4.0 cm and 5.3 cm, and the radial accuracies of ETALON-1 and ETALON-2 are 30.7 cm and 7.2 cm. These results of station precision analysis confirm that the result of this study is reasonable to have implications as preliminary results for administrating ILRS AAC.