| Date: | 2001-04-03 01:20:00 | |
| Sender: | Mike Pearlman, ILRS Central Bureau <Husson, Van <Van.Husson@honeywell-tsi.com>> | |
| Subject: | [SLR-Mail] No. 754: Etalon Campaign | |
| Author: | Mike Pearlman, ILRS Central Bureau | |
| Content: | ******************************************************************************** SLR Electronic Mail 2001-04-03 01:20:00 UTC Message No. 754 ******************************************************************************** Author: Mike Pearlman, ILRS Central Bureau Subject: Etalon Campaign Dear Colleagues: In Nice, at the request of the Analysis Working Group and with the concurrence of the Missions Working Group, the ILRS Governing Board has approved a six (6) month tracking campaign on the Etalon I and II. The Etalon Satellites are far less sensitive to the perturbations of the gravity field and to thermal radiation forces than Lageos. The combination of Lageos and Etalon should significantly improve the quality of length of day results that SLR can provide. At the moment the SLR contribution to Earth rotation results is not considered to be very important by the international community. This campaign is a very serious attempt to see if we can improve the quality of our results and increase our role in the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). In addition to EOP, this campaign will provide important data for the improvement of GM and will provide addition strength in the resolution of station range biases. Other analysis products should also improve. The campaign will last from April 1 through September 30. Stations are requested to track one pass on each of the Etalon Satellites each shift if they are visible. A pass includes: 2 Normal Points near the beginning of the pass, 2 Normal Points near maximum elevation, and 2 Normal Points near the end of the pass The priority of Etalon I and II is hereby increased to a position just behind LAGEOS and before GLONASS. Please make every effort to participate in this campaign. This should also give us a good opportunity to further improve the performance of the ranging systems; The data will be analyzed in 28 day periods and the first set of results will be discussed at the next Analysis Working Group Meeting now scheduled for September 17 and 18 in Toulouse, France, in conjunction with the SPIE Meeting and the next ILRS General Assembly; If you have any questions, please contact the Central Bureau. Good luck and best regards, Mike Pearlman Secretary, ILRS Central Bureau From: ”Husson, Van” ******************************************************************************** |