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Spire Global, Inc. operates a growing fleet of currently more than 100 CubeSats in different low Earth orbits for commercial Earth observation. These satellites are equipped with dual-frequency GPS receivers and an attitude determination and control system, allowing for precise orbit determination. For three different satellites and a time span of six months we analyze the performance and quality of the on-board collected GPS and attitude data and employ it for precise orbit determination using the Bernese GNSS Software and Napeos, two independent state-of-the-art GNSS processing software packages. We describe technical details crucial for POD and present and compare the in-flight calibrated phase center variation maps. Reduced-dynamic and kinematic orbits are then inter-compared between the two software packages as well as to the orbit solutions produced by Spire Global. We report pseudo-range and carrier phase residuals at the level of 3–4 m and 8–9 mm RMS and a good agreement between the reduced-dynamic and kinematic orbits of around 5 cm 3D RMS. The reduced-dynamic orbit positions and velocities produced with the two employed software packages agree in average on the level of 6–7 cm and 0.05–0.07 mm/s 3D RMS, while the comparison to the orbits produced by Spire Global is markedly worse with 27–30 cm and 0.32–0.36 mm/s 3D RMS. The presented results are an encouraging first step towards using GPS data from the Spire constellation for geodetic, geophysical and ionospheric applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single-frequency (SF) precise orbit determination (POD) using space-borne Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements is a prerequisite for the success of many low-cost small/micro low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite missions. The first-order ionospheric effects are usually eliminated by group and phase ionospheric correction (GRAPHIC) combinations. GPS receiver antenna GRAPHIC residual variations (GRVs) are important systematic error sources in SF orbit determination. Azimuth and elevation dependent GRVs are estimated and obtained based on the GRAPHIC combination residuals in an in-flight calibration. One month of data from GRACE-A, GRACE-B, CHAMP and HY-2A satellites is used to assess the potential of receiver antenna GRVs in SF orbit determination. It is the first time to study the impact of receiver antenna GRVs on SF orbit determination for different LEO satellites, which exhibit different altitudes and data qualities. The impact of receiver antenna GRVs on SF orbit determination is significant. The use of in-flight determined receiver antenna GRVs leads to a better consistency between SF and dual-frequency POD solutions. The improvements are more obvious for GRACE-A and CHAMP satellites, whose receiver antenna GRV patterns demonstrate clear characteristics of systematic deviations. After correcting the receiver antenna GRVs, the root-mean-square of satellite laser ranging validation residuals are 3.11 cm, 2.31 cm, 2.86 cm and 5.29 cm for GRACE-A, GRACE-B, CHAMP and HY-2A satellites, respectively, which are reduced by 11.1%, 4.6%, 14.6% and 4.7%, respectively. At last, a set of a priori GDV corrections of GPS transmitter antennas are used in SF orbit determination and its effects on receiver antenna GRVs estimation and SF orbit determination are analyzed. Applying these corrections can slightly improve the SF orbit quality of GRACE-A satellite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]