US 11,447,273 B1 · Orbit determination service

Abstract

Instead of users (e.g., independent owners/operators of different satellites) having to calculate orbit determination for each satellite themselves, an orbit determination service automatically calculates the orbit determination (OD) based on a user request. The calculated OD can then be used by a satellite ground station service to determine appropriate orientations for a ground station antenna in order to communicate with the satellite. In some embodiments, the OD service uses information from the calculations of ODs for multiple satellites and users to update a model used in the OD calculation, for example, to provide a more accurate model for Earth's atmosphere to be applied in subsequent OD calculations. In some embodiments, the OD service uses a user-provided computer-aided drawing (CAD) file of the satellite to produce or tune models specific to the satellite, for example, to generate more accurate models for solar radiation pressure and ballistic drag.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from a first client, a first request for orbit determination for a first satellite, the first request including data identifying the first satellite;
using a plurality of predetermined models, calculating a predicted orbit determination (OD) for the first satellite;
based on measurement data, correcting the predicted OD for the first satellite to yield a first OD for the first satellite and sending the first OD to the first client;
updating a first model of the plurality of predetermined models based on the predicted OD and the first OD for the first satellite;
receiving, from a second client, a second request for OD for a second satellite, the second request including data identifying the second satellite;
using the plurality of predetermined models including the updated first model, calculating a predicted OD for the second satellite;
and
based on measurement data, correcting the predicted OD for the second satellite to yield a second OD for the second satellite and sending the second OD to the second client.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Orbit determination service

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Orbit determination service

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20