Simulation of recovery of the geopotential model based on intersatellite acceleration data in the low-low satellite to satellite tracking gravity mission
星间加速度解算模式的模拟与分析

In the low-low satellite to satellite gravity mission, the intersatellite range and range-rate data are the observable values, while the intersatellite acceleration can be derived from the range-rate through digital differential. Using acceleration data, people can avoid solving the variational equations of the satellite motion and simplify the observation equations. But on the other side, the digital differential will amplify the observation noises and finally affect the solved geopotential accuracy. In order to give a quantitative answer, this paper analyses and tests the accuracy of calculated acceleration by digital differential, derives the general observation equations with the intersatellite acceleration and simulates the geopotential solution based on the acceleration data. The results show that the solution accuracy by using the acceleration observation is much lower than the accuracy obtained from the range-rate observation.