Impact of Different TRF Realizations on SLR Data Processing in the Benese GNSS Software

Global Terrestrial Reference Frames (TRFs) are regularly provided by three International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) combination centres (CCs) of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), located at the Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière (IGN), at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and at the Deutsches Geodätisches Forschungsinstitut (DGFI) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). All three CCs use different methodologies and assumptions to compute a global TRF.

In the framework of the IAG-IERS Joint Working Group 1.2.4 for the evaluation of the terrestrial reference frames, we analyze the impact of three different 2020 TRF realizations (provided by the CCs) on Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) data processing using a development version of the Bernese GNSS Software (BSW).

First, to obtain the total effect of the TRF realization on the SLR satellite orbits and the post-fit observation residuals, the station coordinates are fixed to the a priori values. Afterwards, the set of excepted core stations used for a proper datum definition is compared for the different TRFs. Finally, a state-of-the-art SLR data processing is performed, where orbit parameters and range biases along with global geodetic parameters, e.g., Earth rotation parameters and station coordinates, are co-estimated.