ILRS Analysis Centers

ILRS Analysis Centers fall into three categories: Analysis Centers, Lunar Analysis Centers, and Associate Analysis Centers.

ILRS Analysis Centers receive and process tracking data from one or more data centers for the purpose of producing ILRS products without interruption, at an interval and with a time lag specified by the Governing Board to meet ILRS requirements. The Analysis Centers are committed to produce Earth orientation parameters on a weekly or subweekly basis, as well as other products, such as station coordinates, on a monthly or quarterly basis. The Analysis Centers also provide a second level of quality assurance on the global data set by monitoring individual station range and time biases. At a minimum, the Analysis Centers must process the global LAGEOS-1 and LAGEOS-2 datasets and are encouraged to include other geodetic satellites in their solutions.

Lunar Analysis Centers process normal point data from the Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) stations and generate a variety of scientific products including precise lunar ephemerides, librations, and orientation parameters which provide insights into the composition and internal makeup of the Moon, its interaction with the Earth, tests of General Relativity, and Solar System ties to the International Celestial Reference Frame.

Associate Analysis Centers are organizations that produce special products not necessarily at regular intervals, such as satellite predictions, time bias information, precise orbits for special-purpose satellites, station coordinates and velocities within a certain geographic region, or scientific data products of a mission-specific nature.

(c.f. ILRS Terms of Reference sec 2.4.1 and 2.4.2)

Related Links: WWW Analysis Centers hyperlinks, ILRS Analysis Working Group Email is ilrsawg@cddis.gsfc.nasa.gov .