Related papers: Orbit determination from one position vector and a…
We review two initial orbit determination methods for too short arcs (TSAs) of optical observations of a solar system body. These methods employ the conservation laws of Kepler's problem, and allow to attempt the linkage of TSAs referring…
We present the results of our investigation on the use of the two-body integrals to compute preliminary orbits by linking too short arcs of observations of celestial bodies. This work introduces a significant improvement with respect to the…
We consider different choices of Keplerian conservation laws for the computation of preliminary orbits with two very short arcs (VSAs) of astrometric observations. In total we have 7 equations in 4 unknowns. Adding two auxiliary variables…
We investigate a method to compute a finite set of preliminary orbits for solar system bodies using the first integrals of the Kepler problem. This method is thought for the applications to the modern sets of astrometric observations, where…
We introduce a new method to perform preliminary orbit determination for space debris on low Earth orbits (LEO). This method works with tracks of radar observations: each track is composed by $n\ge 4$ topocentric position vectors per pass…
The first integrals of the Kepler problem are used to compute preliminary orbits starting from two short observed arcs of a celestial body, which may be obtained either by optical or radar observations. We write polynomial equations for…
The modern optical telescopes produce a huge number of asteroid observations, that are grouped into very short arcs (VSAs), each containing a few observations of the same object in one single night. To decide whether two VSAs, collected in…
A simple procedure is developed to determine orbital elements of an object orbiting in a central force field which contribute more than three independent celestial positions. By manipulation of formal three point Gauss method of orbit…
Short-arc orbit determination is crucial when an asteroid is first discovered. In these cases usually the observations are so few that the differential correction procedure may not converge. We have developed an initial orbit computation…
We propose two algorithms to provide a full preliminary orbit of an Earth-orbiting object with a number of observations lower than the classical methods, such as those by Laplace and Gauss. The first one is the Virtual debris algorithm,…
Here we revisit an initial orbit determination method introduced by O. F. Mossotti employing four geocentric sky-plane observations and a linear equation to compute the angular momentum of the observed body. We then extend the method to…
While building up a catalog of Earth orbiting objects, if the available optical observations are sparse, not deliberate follow ups of specific objects, no orbit determination is possible without previous correlation of observations obtained…
Given a set of astrometric observations of the same object, the problem of orbit determination is to compute the orbit and to assess its uncertainty and reliability. For the next generation surveys, with much larger number density of…
Knowledge of the orbits of visual binary stars has always been one of the fundamentals of astronomy. Based historically on the visual measures, nowadays the orbits rely more (or exclusively) on the accurate speckle data. This prompts…
Initial orbit determination (IOD) from line-of-sight (i.e., bearing) measurements is a classical problem in astrodynamics. Indeed, there are many well-established methods for performing the IOD task when given three line-of-sight…
We propose a method to account for the Earth oblateness effect in preliminary orbit determination of satellites in low orbits with radar observations. This method is an improvement of the one described in (Gronchi et al 2015), which uses a…
The hand-eye measurements have recently been proven to be very efficient for spacecraft attitude determination relative to an ellipsoidal asteroid. However, recent method does not guarantee full attitude observability for all conditions.…
We present a procedure for determination of positions and orbital elements, and associated uncertainties, of outer Solar System planets. The orbit-fitting procedure is greatly streamlined compared to traditional methods because acceleration…
Summed many years of work at Pulkovo, the orbits of 67 wide pairs of visual double and multiple stars (included in 64 systems) which were obtained by the Apparent Motion Parameters (AMP) method are presented. This short arc determination…
The heterogeneity of the small body population complicates the prediction of small body properties before the spacecraft's arrival. In the context of autonomous small body exploration, it is crucial to develop algorithms that estimate the…