Operation-informed simulation of ILRS Satellite Laser Ranging observation yield for the GENESIS mission

Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is a fundamental technique of space geodesy, providing essential contributions to the realization and long-term stability of terrestrial reference frames. For future multi-technique missions such as the GENESIS mission, a realistic assessment of achievable SLR observation yield requires modelling approaches that reflect operational constraints of the global tracking network.

This study presents an operation-informed simulation framework for estimating the SLR observation yield of the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) network. The approach represents tracking opportunities using station availability windows (SAWs) derived from geometric visibility and integrates weather-gated availability based on ERA5 reanalysis data. Empirical models of tracking duration, interleaving behaviour, and station-specific priority patterns are derived from historical ILRS normal point records. The framework explicitly avoids optimal scheduling and instead aims to reproduce realistic network behaviour over annual time scales.

The framework is applied to a representative GENESIS mission scenario and evaluated using network-level performance indicators, including annual union tracked time, normal point (NP) count, and NP gap statistics. Comparisons with historical SLR tracking of LAGEOS-1/2 demonstrate that the simulated GENESIS observation yield lies within a realistic reference range.

The proposed framework provides a practical tool for mission performance assessment and scenario analysis of space-geodetic observing systems.