RESEARCH REPORT Government of Japan Advancing Precision in Navigation The ESA-JAXA Collaboration for Enhancing QZSS Performance F. Gini, E. Schönemann, F. Dilssner, T. Springer, M. V. Kints, V. Mayer, and W. Enderle NAVIGATION SUPPORT OFFICE AT ESA/ESOC The authors K. Akiyama, K. Kawate, Y. Igarashi, T. Sasaki, H. Takiguchi, and S. Kogure SATELLITE NAVIGATION UNIT AT JAXA S. Ikari MEISEI UNIVERSITY I n early 2015, the Navigation Support Office of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began a collaboration. At its core, the ESA-JAXA collaboration is designed to cross validate Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) Precise Orbit Determination (POD) results and share expertise to improve the POD accuracy of QZSS. The cross-validation of the QZSS POD performance was implemented by jointly analyzing QZSS observations and validating the POD results of the QZSS satellites. As a result of this joint activity, ESA and JAXA have FIGURE 1 ESA’s Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) model output in satellite-Sun frame. significantly improved the robustness and accuracy of their respective POD products. This collaborative approach not only ensures the continuous improvement of QZSS force modeling and precise orbit determination 30 GPS WORLD WWW.GPSWORLD.COM | MAY 2024
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