Overview of Satellite Laser Ranging for BeiDou Navigation Satellite System

• 来源期刊: 中国航天（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2020,（4）
• 所属期刊栏目: BEIDOU NANIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM
• 页码范围: 31-41
• 页数: 11页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1671-0940.2020.04.004

摘要

Satellite laser ranging(SLR)is an unambiguous measurement technique and generates high accuracy sat-ellite orbit data.All satellites in the BeiDou navigation satellite system(BDS)carried laser retro-reflector arrays(LRAs),so they can be tracked by ground SLR stations in order to provide the accurate observation data.The Shanghai astro-nomical observatory(SHAO)designed the LRAs,and also developed the dedicated SLR systems using a I m-aperture telescope and a transportable cabin-based SLR system with a telescopes of 60 cm aperture.These enable BDS satellite ranging during daytime and nighttime with centimeter-level precision,allowing highly accurate estimations of satellite orbits.Moreover,some of the BDS satellites are also equipped with laser time transfer(LTT)payloads,which were de-veloped by the SHAO and China Academy of Space Technology(CAST),providing a highly accurate time comparison between the satellites and ground clocks.This paper describes the dedicated SLR system and the design of the LRAs for BDS satellites,as well as global SLR measurements.The SLR tracking data is used for evaluating the orbit accuracy of BDS satellites and broadcast ephemeris,with an accuracy of less than I m.The LTT measurements to BDS satellites for a single shot have a precision of approximately 300 picoseconds,with a time stability of 20 picoseconds in 500 s.