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Abstract.:  An analytical gravitational perturbation theory for the intersatellite tracking range and range-rate measurement between two satellites is developed. The satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) range data measure the difference between the position perturbations of two satellites along the direction of the intersatellite range. The SST range-rate data measure the difference between the velocity perturbations along the direction of the intersatellite range, and the difference of the position perturbation along the direction perpendicular to the intersatellite range (cross-range). The SST range and range rate depend on different orbital excitations for mapping the gravity field. For the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), approximately 97% of the geopotential coefficient pairs produce perturbations with a root-mean-square larger than 1 m on the range and 0.1 m/sec on the range rate based on the EGM96 gravity field truncated at degree and order 140. Results in this study showed that ocean tides produce significant perturbations in the range and range-rate measurements. An ocean tide field with a higher degree and order (>70) is required to model the ocean tide perturbations on the intersatellite range and range-rate measurement.

Abstract.: Methods for analyzing laser-ranging residuals to estimate station-dependent systematic errors and to eliminate outliers in satellite laser ranges are discussed. A robust estimator based on an M-estimation principle is introduced. A practical calculation procedure which provides a robust criterion with high breakdown point and produces robust initial residuals for following iterative robust estimation is presented. Comparison of the results from the least-squares method with those of the robust method shows that the results of the station systematic errors from the robust estimator are more reliable.

A model for the anisotropic reflection force acting on Ajisai is presented which includes the variable reflectivity coefficient and the force in the direction perpendicular to the incident light. This model significantly reduces the along-track orbit errors of Ajisai and smoothes the spike-like variation in the estimated drag coefficients from analysis of Ajisai laser ranging data. The model produces 17% smaller range residual RMS values in a one-year arc analysis of 1993 data, and a smaller residual RMS for a short-arc analysis in mid-year, the period from May to August, 1993.

Some aspects for efficient computation of the tidal perturbation due to the ellipticity effects of the Earth, the luni-solar potential on an Earth-orbiting satellite and the perturbations of the satellite's radial, transverse and normal position components due to the effects of the Earth's gravitational and ocean tide fields are presented. A straightforward method for computing the spectrum of the geopotential and the tidal-induced perturbations of the orbit elements and the radial, transverse and normal components is described.

The secular change in the mean motion of the Moon, &ndota;, caused by the tidal dissipation in the ocean and solid Earth is due primarily to the effect of the diurnal and semidiurnal tides. The long-period ocean tides produce an increase in &ndota;, but the effects are only 1 per cent of the diurnal and semidiurnal ocean tides. In this investigation, expressions for these effects are obtained by developing the tidal potential in the ecliptic reference system. The computation of the amplitude of equilibrium tide and the phase corrections is also discussed. The averaged tidal deceleration of the Moon's mean motion, nud, from the most recent satellite ocean tide solutions is −25.25 ± 0.4 arcseconds/century2. The value for nud inferred from the satellite-determined ocean tide solution is in good agreement with the value obtained from the analysis of 20 years of lunar laser ranging observations.