On Comparing Precision Orbit Solutions of Geodetic Satellites Given Several Ocean Tide and Geopotential Models

What is it about?

This paper examines the effect of combinations of Earth geopotential models and ocean tide models on precision orbit determination. Precise laser ranging data is used to quantify the differences caused by differing models for Earth's gravity due to solid mass and ocean mass.

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Why is it important?

This paper makes use of a novel metric to try to determine which combination of models is well suited for precision orbit determination. Typically, the residual error (i.e. the difference between expected and observed measurements) is used as a metric. However, in high precision applications, the residual error is often not a sensitive metric for distinguishing effects of modelling differences. By comparing predicted orbits to orbit fits using the same set of models, a more sensitive metric is created. This allows for recommendations to be made as to which model sets to use.