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We are reporting on identification and calibration of one-way delays in satellite laser ranging systems. Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) is a standard technique to measure the distance of satellites as a function of time with millimeter precision and a few millimeters accuracy. For one-way laser ranging, laser time transfer ground to space and for bi- and multi-static laser ranging to space objects identification and measurement of system delays related separately to transmitting and receiving parts of the system are needed. The epochs of transmission and reception of optical signals have to be referred to the coordinated time scale with the accuracy reaching one nanosecond level or better for one-way ranging and space debris multi-static ranging. For transponder ranging and laser time transfer an even higher accuracy of 50 ps or better is needed. These accuracy requirements are by several orders of magnitude higher in comparison to standard SLR applications. A new procedure of calibration of one-way delays related to the SLR systems has been developed and tested. The necessary hardware components needed for calibration measurements were designed and developed in a form of a Calibration Device. It consists of a photon counting detector, an epoch timing device and a dedicated signal cable. The signal propagation delays of these components were determined with an accuracy of better than 20 ps. The signal propagation delay stability of the Calibration Device is on a level of units of picoseconds over days of operation. The Calibration Device and calibration procedure were tested in real measurements at the SLR site in Graz, Austria. The time needed to complete a calibration of one-way delays of the SLR system is less than two days. The one-way system delays were determined with the accuracy better than 50 ps. The measurement principle, Calibration Device and the first results are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spaceborne laser altimeters are common instruments on-board the rendezvous spacecraft. This manuscript deals with the altimeters using a single photon approach, which belongs to the family of time-of-flight range measurements. Moreover, the single photon receiver part of the altimeter may be utilized as an Earth-to-spacecraft link enabling one-way ranging, time transfer and data transfer. The single photon altimeters evaluate actual altitude through the repetitive detections of single photons of the reflected laser pulses. We propose the single photon altimeter signal processing and data mining algorithm based on the Poisson statistic filter (histogram method) and the modified Kalman filter, providing all common altimetry products (altitude, slope, background photon flux and albedo). The Kalman filter is extended for the background noise filtering, the varying slope adaptation and the non-causal extension for an abrupt slope change. Moreover, the algorithm partially removes the major drawback of a single photon altitude reading, namely that the photon detection measurement statistics must be gathered. The developed algorithm deduces the actual altitude on the basis of a single photon detection; thus, being optimal in the sense that each detected signal photon carrying altitude information is tracked and no altitude information is lost. The algorithm was tested on the simulated datasets and partially cross-probed with the experimental data collected using the developed single photon altimeter breadboard based on the microchip laser with the pulse energy on the order of microjoule and the repetition rate of several kilohertz. We demonstrated that such an altimeter configuration may be utilized for landing or hovering a small body (asteroid, comet). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]