GPS III Vespucci: Results of half a year in orbit

Abstract

The spacecraft nicknamed Vespucci is the first GPS III satellite launched in December 2018. Numerous receivers of the global International GNSS Service network tracked the signals of this new generation of GPS spacecraft from January to July 2019. This data set serves as the basis for analysis of broadcast ephemeris performance and clock stability, as well as solar radiation pressure and satellite antenna phase center models. Different empirical orbit models are tested, and box-wing models are developed based on approximate dimensions, mass, and assumed optical properties. The box-wing models show in general a better performance than the empirical models. Compared to Block IIF satellites, the stability of the GPS III rubidium clock is higher for integration times up to 10 s. At longer integration times, the stability of both clocks is similar but the GPS III clock does not suffer from frequency-specific line bias variations that affect the apparent IIF clock. Estimated antenna phase center offsets agree on the centimeter level with the calibrations published by the manufacturer. Measurements with a 30-m high-gain antenna revealed that the satellite did not stop signal transmission in July 2019 but switched to non-standard codes and codes beyond the tracking capabilities of commercial GNSS receivers. Prior to this hibernation mode, a 70 days test without broadcast ephemeris update was conducted during which the user range error increased to roughly 1 km.