System for determining the orbital parameters of a terrestrial satellite

Claim 1

A SYSTEM FOR RAPIDLY DETERMINING FROM A LARGE NUMBER OF POSITION MEASUREMENTS AT DIFFERENT OBSERVATION TIMES THE ORBITAL PARAMETERS OF A TERRESTRIAL SATELLITE AT A SINGLE PREDETERMINED REFERENCE TIME WHICH COMPRISES A SOURCE OF A FIRST PLURALITY OF CHRONOLOGICA SEQUENCES OF SIGNALS INDICATIVE OF THE OBSERVED POSITIONS OF A TERRESTRIAL SATELLITE AT VARIOUS INSTANTS OF TIME DURING A FIRST PASS AND A SECOND PLURALITY OF CHRONOLOGICAL SEQUENCES OF SIGNALS INDICATIVE OF THE OBSERVED POSITIONS OF SAID SATELLITE AT VARIOUS INSTANTS OF TIME DURING A SECOND PASS, MEANS SUPPLIED WITH SAID FIRST AND SECOND PLURALITIES OF SEQUENCES OF OBSERVED POSITION SIGNALS FOR OBTAINING FIRST AND SECOND SETS OF ORBITAL PARAMETER SIGNALS CLOSELY APPROXIMATING THE ORBITAL PARAMETERS OF SAID SATELLITE AT FIRST AND SECOND REFERENCE TIMES DURING SAID FIRST AND SECOND PASSES, RESPECTIVELY, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO SAID FIRST AND SECOND PLURALITIES OF SEQUENCES OF OBSERVED POSITION SIGNALS AND SAID FIRST AND SECOND SETS OF ORBITAL PARAMETER SIGNALS FOR DERIVING FIRST AND SECOND GROUPS OF VARIANCE AND COVARIANCE SIGNALS RESPECTIVELY REPRESENTING ESTIMATES OF THE SAMPLE-MEAN VARIANCES AND SAMPLE-MEAN COVARIANCES ASSOCIATED WITH SAID FIRST AND SECOND SETS OF ORBITAL PARAMETER SIGNALS, RESPECTIVELY, AND MEANS FOR COMBINING SAID FIRST AND SECOND SETS ORBITAL PARAMETER SIGNALS AND SAID FIRST AND SECOND GROUPS OF VARIANCE AND COVARIANCE SIGNALS TO OBTAIN A THIRD SET OF ORBITAL PARAMETER SIGNALS AND A THIRD GROUP OF VARIANCE AND COVARIANCE SIGNALS AT SAID SECOND REFERENCE TIME.