A METHOD OF INTERMEDIATE ORBIT DETERMINATION BASED ON RANGE AND RANGE RATE MEASUREMENTS AT THREE TIMES
A new method is proposed for computing the preliminary orbit of a small celestial body from three pairs of range and range rate observations. The method is based on using the intermediate orbit that we previously constructed from two position vectors and the corresponding time instants. This intermediate orbit allows for most of the perturbations in the motion of the body under study. The methodical error of orbit determination by the proposed method is two orders smaller than the corresponding error of the commonly used approach based on the construction of the unperturbed Keplerian orbit. Using the examples of finding the orbits of artificial Earth satellites, the results obtained by the procedure implementing the traditional approach and the new method are compared. The comparison shows that the new method is a highly efficient means for studying perturbed motion.