Precise orbit determination for the GRACE mission using only GPS data

The GRACE (gravity recovery and climate experiment) satellites, launched in March 2002, are each equipped with a BlackJack GPS onboard receiver for precise orbit determination and gravity field recovery. Since launch, there have been significant improvements in the background force models used for satellite orbit determination, most notably the model for the geopotential. This has resulted in significant improvements to orbit accuracy for very low altitude satellites. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how well the orbits of the GRACE satellites (about 470 km in altitude) can currently be determined using only GPS data and based on the current models and methods. The orbit accuracy is assessed using a number of tests, which include analysis of orbit fits, orbit overlaps, orbit connecting points, satellite Laser ranging residuals and K-band ranging (KBR) residuals. We show that 1-cm radial orbit accuracy for the GRACE satellites has probably been achieved. These precise GRACE orbits can be used for such purposes as improving gravity recovery from the GRACE KBR data and for atmospheric profiling, and they demonstrate the quality of the background force models being used.