Accurate Orbit Determination from Short-Arc Dense Observational Data

Requirements have existed for several decades for highly accurate satellite orbits. With increased computer power, simplified analytical techniques have lost most of their competitive edge and numerical techniques are experiencing wide-spread popularity. When coupled with increased accuracy requirements from commercial satellites owners and accurate computations for debris and close approach for the International Space Station, a reliable method must be found to form highly-accurate satellite state vectors. This paper explores one approach using dense observational data from short-arcs of geographically distributed sensor sites. In particular, dense observations (consisting of one observation per second for about two minutes) are analyzed to determine the accuracy that can be achieved via high fidelity, numerical, orbit-determination techniques.