In this paper, we propose a new reduced-dynamic (RD) method by introducing the second-order time-difference position (STP) as additional pseudo-observations (named the RD_STP method) for the precise orbit determination (POD) of low Earth orbiters (LEOs) from GPS observations. Theoretical and numerical analyses show that the accuracies of integrating the STPs of LEOs at 30 s intervals are better than 0.01 m when the forces (<10−5 ms−2) acting on the LEOs are ignored. Therefore, only using the Earth’s gravity model is good enough for the proposed RD_STP method. All unmodeled dynamic models (e.g., luni-solar gravitation, tide forces) are treated as the error sources of the STP pseudo-observation. In addition, there are no pseudo-stochastic orbit parameters to be estimated in the RD_STP method. Finally, we use the RD_STP method to process 15 days of GPS data from the GOCE mission. The results show that the accuracy of the RD_STP solution is more accurate and smoother than the kinematic solution in nearly polar and equatorial regions, and consistent with the RD solution. The 3D RMS of the differences between the RD_STP and RD solutions is 1.93 cm for 1 s sampling. This indicates that the proposed method has a performance comparable to the RD method, and could be an alternative for the POD of LEOs.
Geosynchronous Satellite Orbit Determination