MULTI-TECHNIQUE TERRESTRIAL REFERENCE FRAME REALIZATIONS ARE PRESENTLY OBTAINED THROUGH COMBINATION OF HIGH-LEVEL INFORMATION EQUATIONS FOR STATION COORDINATE TIME-SERIES SYNTHESIZED SEPARATELY FOR EACH SPACE GEODETIC TECHNIQUE. FOR STATIONS WITH CO-LOCATED TECHNIQUE INSTRUMENTATION INTER-TECHNIQUE CONNECTIONS ARE ENFORCED POST-FACTO BASED ON INFORMATION FROM OCCASIONAL OR ARCHIVAL MEASUREMENTS OF INTER-SYSTEM TIES. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MCDONALD OBSERVATORY HAS A FOUR-DECADE LONG CONTRIBUTION TO THE TERRESTRIAL REFERENCE FRAME FROM SATELLITE LASER RANGING (SLR) DATA COLLECTED BY THE MCDONALD LASER RANGING SYSTEM (MLRS) AND A GEODETIC GPS RECEIVER. WORK IS UNDERWAY TO ESTABLISH THE MCDONALD GEODETIC OBSERVATORY (MGO) THAT INCLUDES A NEXT-GENERATION SLR SEVERAL GNSS RECEIVERS AND A VLBI SYSTEM. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A NEW ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK THAT DEFINES CHARACTERIZES AND ALLOWS THE INTER-SYSTEM TIES TO BE ESTIMATED AT MMLEVEL ACCURACY OVER THE KM-BASELINE. DATA FROM A NETWORK OF SYSTEMS AT EACH STATION CAN THUS BE CONNECTED AT BOTH THE TECHNIQUE LEVEL AND AT THE OBSERVATION LEVEL. SUCH A FRAMEWORK REQUIRES ATTENTION TO THE SITE-UNIQUE ASPECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY THE INTERSYSTEM BIASES AND HARDWARE CHARACTERISTICS AND THE TIME-EVOLUTION OF THE INTER-SYSTEM GEOMETRY AT THE SITE IN ALL THREE DIMENSIONS. THE FRAMEWORK SHALL BE DEVELOPED FOR THE MGO SITE AND WILL SERVE AS A MODEL FOR SIMILAR IMPLEMENTATIONS AT THE FUTURE FUNDAMENTAL GEODETIC OBSERVATORIES OF THE GLOBAL GEODETIC OBSERVATION SYSTEM (GGOS) AND AID IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEXT GENERATION TERRESTRIAL REFERENCE FRAME WITH THE REQUISITE SUB-MM STABILITY.
$447,085FY2017National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX