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The estimated median accuracy of 194 single-day determinations of the earth's angular position in space is 0.7 millisecond (0.01 arc second). Comparison with classical astronomical results gives agreement to about the expected 2-millisecond uncertainty of the 5-day averages obtained by the Bureau International de l'Heure. Little evidence for very rapid variations in the earth's rotation is present in the data.
A theoretical model for the range error covariance was derived by assuming that the residual refraction errors are due entirely to errors in the meteorological data which are used to calculate the atmospheric correction. The properties of the covariance function are illustrated by evaluating the theoretical model for the special case of a dense network of weather stations uniformly distributed within a circle.
The effects of departures from the spherical symmetry assumption are investigated by describing the refractivity profile on the earth's surface as a generalized function of the surface coordinates. Aspects of satellite ranging geometry are considered and the representation of the true group refractivity of the atmosphere at any point on the earth's surface is discussed. Surface meteorological data obtained from a few east coast weather stations are analyzed to obtain typical values of the higher order bias terms.
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The development of a high precision time interval digitizer is described. The time digitizer is a 10 psec resolution stop watch covering a range of up to 340 msec. The measured time interval is determined as a separation between leading edges of a pair of pulses applied externally to the start input and the stop input of the digitizer. Employing an interpolation techniques and a 50 MHz high precision master oscillator, the equivalent of a 100 GHz clock frequency standard is achieved. Absolute accuracy and stability of the digitizer are determined by the external 50 MHz master oscillator, which serves as a standard time marker. The start and stop pulses are fast 1 nsec rise time signals, according to the Nuclear Instrument means of tunnel diode discriminators. Firing level of the discriminator define start and stop points between which the time interval is digitized.
Aluminum gallium antimonide avalanche photodiodes with average gain of 10, internal quantum efficiency of greater than 60%, capacitance less than 0.2pf, and dark current of less than 1 micron were designed and fabricated for use in a low noise optical receiver suitable for 2 cm accuracy rangefinding. Topics covered include: (1) design of suitable photodetector structures; (2) epitaxial growth of AlGaSb devices; (3) fabrication of photodetectors; and (4) electro-optics characterization.
The dependence (or independence) of baseline accuracies, obtained from a typical mission of a spaceborne ranging system, on several factors is investigated. The emphasis is placed on a priori station information, but factors such as the elevation cut-off angle, the geometry of the network, the mean orbital height, and to a limited extent geopotential modeling are also examined. The results are obtained through simulations, but some theoretical justification is also given. Guidelines for freeing the results from these dependencies are suggested for most of the factors.
The effects of elasticity and of tidal friction within the Moon were incorporated into the numerical model of the Moon's rotation which was used in an effort to determine the axial rotation of the Earth, as measured by Universal Time. Some 2,651 normal points representing ranges measured to Lunokhod 2, and to the Apollo 11, 14, and 15 retroflectors were analyzed. Smoothed estimates derived from the lunar rangefinding were compared with smoothed values published by the International Bureau of Time, in the 1968 and 1969 systems. The derived values at the observation sight were connected to corresponding values at the Conventional International Origin, using the BIH data for polar motion. Differences are discussed.
Simulations were performed to determine the suitability of the proposed station locations. The criterion was a comparison among the possible station configuration of the standard deviations of baseline and Earth rotation parameters estimated from a least squares covariance analysis. Only the relative magnitudes of the standard deviations were addressed in the analysis. Only random errors were assumed and no provision was made for systematic effects. The Iron Triangle, consisting of the stations at Westford (Haystack), Massachusetts, Owens Valley, California, and Ft. Davis, Texas, was regarded as the structure of the proposed network with options to incorporate either the Goldstone, California, or Green Bank, West Virginia, station or both. It was decided to include the Richmond, Florida, station in the analysis since it offered more North-South separation and therefore could strengthen the geometry of the network especially in the recovery of Earth rotation parameters.
An investigation of range differences for their capabilities in determining the orientation of the earth in an earth-moon reference system is presented. Each pair of two coobserving stations forms an observational unit which is preferably located along a meridian or parallel; for a time interval from the instant of the first simultaneous observation of the most eastern line to the last observation of the most western line, a variance analysis shows that the pole position and the earth rotation can be computed independently of errors in the adopted lunar ephemeris. It is concluded that if the stations are within 10 to 15 deg in north-south or east-west direction the standard deviations of the parameters do not increase significantly.
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Because of the mathematical complexities involved in exact analyses of baseline errors, it is not easy to isolate atmospheric refraction effects; however, by making certain simplifying assumptions about the ranging system geometry, relatively simple expressions can be derived which relate the baseline errors directly to the refraction errors. The results indicate that even in the absence of other errors, the baseline error for intercontinental baselines can be more than an order of magnitude larger than the refraction error.
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Seventeen years of lunar ranging data have been analyzed to determine lunar second-degree moment differences, third-degree gravitational harmonics, Love number, rotational dissipation and retroreflector coordinates.
Lidar cross section of some typical types of cube-corner retroreflectors (CCRs) having a three corner mirror system is investigated for the case that the CCR is tilted from the normal illumination axis. Analytic expressions for the effective aperture area for the two typical window types (circular and hexagonal) of CCRs are obtained for the case that the CCR is tilted. The range of incidence angle in which only the total reflection occurs at all three uncoated corner mirrors has been found to vary considerably with the orientation of CCR and the refractive index of the CCR prism. The analytical expression for the far-field diffraction pattern of a tilted CCR is obtained by taking different polarization transformation of the six sectors of the effective reflecting aperture into account. This expression is essential when evaluating the lidar cross section of a moving CCR which is tilted in general. Formulas for the angles defining the six sectors have also been obtained.
A collaborative effort of NASA and CNES will lead to the launching of the 'TOPEX' ocean topography experiment satellite in the early 1990s; the satellite will employ two onboard altimeters whose calibration may be accomplished by a worldwide lidar tracking network that is projected to enter into operation in the 1990s. Attention is presently given to a computer model of the use of different ground-based lidar systems, in conjunction with retroreflector array designs, for TOPEX satellite calibration.
During the period October 1992 through June 1993, Center for Space Research efforts continued on four areas: (1) production of a solution for terrestrial reference frame including site positions, velocities, and Earth orientation and rotation spanning the entire Lageos-1 mission, (2) production of a solution for terrestrial reference frame including site positions and Earth orientation spanning the Lageos-2 mission, independently from Lageos-1, (3) evaluation of numerical characteristics of the integration of the Lageos-2 orbit, (4) evaluation of contributions of Lageos-1 and Lageos-2 to temporal variations in the geopotential and 18.6 year tidal response of the Earth, and (5) attendence and participation in Lageos-2 Investigator Working Group Meetings and Committees.
The front-end electronic circuitry plays a fundamental role in determining the performance actually obtained from ultrafast and highly sensitive photodetectors. We deal here with electronic problems met working with microchannel plate photomultipliers (MCP-PMTs) and single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) for detecting single optical photons and measuring their arrival time with picosecond resolution. The performance of available fast circuits is critically analyzed. Criteria for selecting the most suitable electronics are derived and solutions for exploiting the detector performance are presented and discussed.