Evaluating Gooding Angles-only Orbit Determination of Space Based Space Surveillance Measurements

Geosynchronous satellites have traditionally been some of the least accurately maintained orbits with existing ground based sensors for several reasons. MIT/LL successfully operated the MSX/SBV sensor to provide additional observations to AFSPC for processing of GEO space objects for many years. Resulting GEO orbits witnessed a large improvement in accuracy. There are several US Air Force initiatives to introduce future Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) systems into the US AF Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensor mix, but to date, none are operational. This paper reexamines expected orbit determination results for SBSS observations starting with the Initial Orbit Determination (IOD) of the observations, the placement of the SBSS sensor orbit, and data fusion with ground based radar and optical measurements. The goal is to investigate expected IOD and OD techniques to process the observations to improve the GEO Space Situational Awareness (SSA). In each case, simulated data is used to show the expected results and uncertainties of the resulting orbits. Analytical Graphics Inc. Orbit Determination Toolkit’s (ODTK) implementation of the Gooding technique of IOD is used to illustrate performance for routine and near-singular observation geometries.