Interferometric Observations of an Artificial Satellite

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Very-long-baseline interferometric observations of radio signals from the TACSAT synchronous satellite, even though extending over only 7 hours, have enabled an excellent orbit to be deduced. Precision in differenced delay and delay-rate measurements reached 0.15 nanosecond (∼ 5 centimeters in equivalent differenced distance) and 0.05 picosecond per second (∼ 0.002 centimeter per second in equivalent differenced velocity), respectively. The results from this initial three-station experiment demonstrate the feasibility of using the method for accurate satellite tracking and for geodesy. Comparisons are made with other techniques.