Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar Minimum
Abstract With the proliferation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites carrying GNSS receivers on‐board commercial operators such as Spire, Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon, an abundance of high‐cadence tracking data could become available to the scientific community. While GNSS measurements from geodetic‐...
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Wiley
2024-09-01
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| Series: | Space Weather |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003585 |
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| author | Vishal Ray Jeffrey Thayer Eric K. Sutton Zachary Waldron |
| author_facet | Vishal Ray Jeffrey Thayer Eric K. Sutton Zachary Waldron |
| author_sort | Vishal Ray |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract With the proliferation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites carrying GNSS receivers on‐board commercial operators such as Spire, Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon, an abundance of high‐cadence tracking data could become available to the scientific community. While GNSS measurements from geodetic‐grade receivers on satellites like SWARM, CHAMP, GRACE, and GOCE have been extensively used for atmospheric density retrieval, limited research has explored the potential of less accurate data from commercial operators. This study focuses on two methods to estimate atmospheric densities from precision orbit determination (POD) products—precise positions and velocities—utilizing synthetic data sets. The first method, termed “POD accelerometry” treats the POD products as measurements to a reduced‐dynamic POD scheme with the goal of estimating densities using stochastic parameters. The second method known as the energy dissipation rate (EDR) approach derives densities from changes in orbital energy. The relative contributions of various error sources—dynamics model uncertainties, and POD noise—to the estimated densities are studied for a limited set of orbital regimes and space weather activity, and possible error mitigation strategies are suggested. The performance of the two methods and their sensitivities to these various error sources are compared for circular orbits in the altitude regime 300–800 km during solar minimum F10.7=72.5. EDR and POD accelerometry have comparable performances for high drag, low POD noise environments, whereas the latter performs considerably better in low drag <10−6m/s2, high POD noise (>25 cm) environments, with densities retrieved at higher cadences for the orbital regimes considered in this work during solar minimum. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d10cbb5209ed4fcea6a704f9097ee2bb |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1542-7390 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-09-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Space Weather |
| spelling | doaj-art-d10cbb5209ed4fcea6a704f9097ee2bb2025-01-14T16:35:30ZengWileySpace Weather1542-73902024-09-01229n/an/a10.1029/2023SW003585Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar MinimumVishal Ray0Jeffrey Thayer1Eric K. Sutton2Zachary Waldron3Kayhan Space Lafayette CO USASpace Weather Technology Research and Education Center (SWx TREC) University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USASpace Weather Technology Research and Education Center (SWx TREC) University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USASpace Weather Technology Research and Education Center (SWx TREC) University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USAAbstract With the proliferation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites carrying GNSS receivers on‐board commercial operators such as Spire, Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon, an abundance of high‐cadence tracking data could become available to the scientific community. While GNSS measurements from geodetic‐grade receivers on satellites like SWARM, CHAMP, GRACE, and GOCE have been extensively used for atmospheric density retrieval, limited research has explored the potential of less accurate data from commercial operators. This study focuses on two methods to estimate atmospheric densities from precision orbit determination (POD) products—precise positions and velocities—utilizing synthetic data sets. The first method, termed “POD accelerometry” treats the POD products as measurements to a reduced‐dynamic POD scheme with the goal of estimating densities using stochastic parameters. The second method known as the energy dissipation rate (EDR) approach derives densities from changes in orbital energy. The relative contributions of various error sources—dynamics model uncertainties, and POD noise—to the estimated densities are studied for a limited set of orbital regimes and space weather activity, and possible error mitigation strategies are suggested. The performance of the two methods and their sensitivities to these various error sources are compared for circular orbits in the altitude regime 300–800 km during solar minimum F10.7=72.5. EDR and POD accelerometry have comparable performances for high drag, low POD noise environments, whereas the latter performs considerably better in low drag <10−6m/s2, high POD noise (>25 cm) environments, with densities retrieved at higher cadences for the orbital regimes considered in this work during solar minimum.https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003585atmospheric density retrievalprecise orbit determinationcommercial satellite constellationsenergy dissipation rateGNSS dataerror analysis |
| spellingShingle | Vishal Ray Jeffrey Thayer Eric K. Sutton Zachary Waldron Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar Minimum Space Weather atmospheric density retrieval precise orbit determination commercial satellite constellations energy dissipation rate GNSS data error analysis |
| title | Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar Minimum |
| title_full | Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar Minimum |
| title_fullStr | Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar Minimum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar Minimum |
| title_short | Error Assessment of Thermospheric Mass Density Retrieval With POD Products Using Different Strategies During Solar Minimum |
| title_sort | error assessment of thermospheric mass density retrieval with pod products using different strategies during solar minimum |
| topic | atmospheric density retrieval precise orbit determination commercial satellite constellations energy dissipation rate GNSS data error analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2023SW003585 |
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