EGU25-16573, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16573
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The influence of non-gravitational force modeling on Genesis and GNSS orbit and geodetic parameter estimations using two different macro models
Alexandra Miller1, Daniel Arnold1, Adrian Jäggi1, Peter Steigenberger2, and Oliver Montenbruck2
Alexandra Miller et al.
  • 1Astronomical Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland (alexandra.miller@students.unibe.ch)
  • 2German Space Operations Center, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Weßling, Germany

ESA’s Genesis mission, planned to launch in 2028, aims to contribute to a highly improved International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) with an accuracy of 1 mm and a stability of 0.1 mm/year. It will combine GNSS, DORIS, SLR and VLBI space geodetic techniques, acting as the first ever space-tie using these four techniques. The satellite will orbit at an altitude of 6000 km and will be equipped with two GNSS antennas, pointing in zenith and nadir direction, in order to counteract the loss of GNSS coverage at those altitudes.

For the mission to provide a strong contribution to the ITRF, dynamic satellite orbit modeling needs to be done as empirical orbit parameters are closely correlated with some geodetic parameters. Thus, the geometry and optical properties of the satellite, expressed as a macro model, should be described as accurately as possible.

During the development of Genesis, different spacecraft designs were considered. We focus on the original box-wing model, consisting of a cuboid body and a single solar panel, and the newer model, which is similar to Sentinel-6. Their respective influence is determined for a Genesis-only precise orbit determination as well as a global combined solution, where the Genesis orbit, GNSS orbits and clocks, ground station coordinates and geodetic parameters are estimated together. In addition, uncertainties to the optical properties of single or multiple surfaces of the spacecraft were introduced in order to test how macro model errors propagate into the global combined solution.

Using simulated pseudo-range and carrier phase GNSS data for Genesis and the ground stations, we reconstruct the orbit and geodetic parameters. A comparison of the solutions to the simulation truth allows for a direct quantification of the impact of different macro models and possible errors.

How to cite: Miller, A., Arnold, D., Jäggi, A., Steigenberger, P., and Montenbruck, O.: The influence of non-gravitational force modeling on Genesis and GNSS orbit and geodetic parameter estimations using two different macro models, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-16573, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16573, 2025.

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