Interferometric observations of an artificial satellite.
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 ( approximately 5 centimeters in equivalent differenced distance) and 0.05 picosecond per second ( approximately 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.
Preston
R A
RA
Ergas
R
R
Hinteregger
H F
HF
Knight
C A
CA
Robertson
D S
DS
Shapiro
I I
II
Whitney
A R
AR
Rogers
A E
AE
Clark
T A
TA