Application of high-precision two-way ranging to the spacecraft navigation

The application of precision two-way ranging to orbit determination with relatively short data arcs is investigated for the interplanetary mission. Analysis of the X-band radiometric data acquired from the spacecraft indicated that assuming under good signal conditions sub-meter precision and 10-m ranging will be achieved. A range data filtering. The accuracy of the spacecraft orbit solution obtained with X-band Doppler and precision ranging were found to be consistent with simple theoretical calculations, which predicted that angular accuracies of a few nrad were achievable. The navigation accuracy achieved with precision ranging was marginally better than that obtained using Delta-DOR (Delta-VLBI).