. Laser tracking to GPS satellites (PRN5 and 6) provides an opportunity to compare GPS and laser systems directly and to combine data of both in a single solution. A few examples of this are given in this study. The most important results of the analysis are that (1) daily SLR station coordinate solutions could be generated with a few cm accuracy; (2) coordinates of nine stations were determined in a 2.3-year-long arc solution; (3) the contribution of laser data on the `SLR-GPS' combined orbit, resulting from the simultaneous processing of SLR and GPS data, is significant and (4) laser-only orbits have an accuracy of 10–20 cm, 1-day predictions of SLR orbits differ from IGS orbits by about 20–40 cm, 2-day predictions by 50–60 cm.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam Division 1, Telegrafenberg A17, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany Tel.: +49 331 2881119, fax: +49 331 288 1111, e-mail: zhu@gfz-potsdam.de, , , , , , DE

   S. Y. Zhu, C. Reigber & Z. Kang

Received: 1 October 1996 / Accepted: 14 February 1997

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