RELATIVE-MOTION APPROACH FOR DIFFERENTIAL CORRECTION IN ORBIT DETERMINATION

This paper describes an approach for differential correction for angles-only orbit determination based on relative motion. Relative-orbit determination has traditionally been formulated for a space-based sensor in close proximity to the observed object. However, these approaches can be generalized for a distant sensor, and the motion of the observed object is described relative to some proximate reference orbit. The relative-orbit solution is used to define a new reference orbit in the next iteration, reducing approximation error in the relative-motion dynamics. The presented approach utilizes available analytic relative-motion solutions and does not introduce any linearizing approximation in the measurements.