Fig. 3: Satellite laser ranging, 1 MHz, Jason 2.
From: Space debris and satellite laser ranging combined using a megahertz system
Observed minus calculated (O-C) residuals vs. seconds of day and satellite elevation to Jason 2 (NORAD ID: 33105) observed on day 135 of 2024: a After the main track from the target’s CCRs, the raw data shows increased noise after a gap of 16.7 m, which results from detector after pulsing due to the strong signal. b The final 2.2 sigma cleaned residuals include a total of 8.7 million valid returns (up to 2.1 million points per normal point). The histogram clearly shows two tracks from the visible pyramid CCRs. The location of the two CCRs is determined for time intervals of 2 s (red dots). The separation of the two CCRs slightly decreases over time, related to the tilt angle of the satellite. In the histogram of the final data, the count rate is larger than the true one which results from an overrepresentation of large return rates due to the small histogram step size.
