The technique of Satellite Laser Ranging is today a mature, important tool with applications in many area of geodynamics, geodesy and satellite dynamics. A global network of some 40 stations regularly obtains range observations with sub-cm precision to more than twelve orbiting spacecraft. At such levels of precision it is important to minimise potential sources of range bias in the observations, and part of the thesis is a study of subtle effects caused by the extended nature of the arrays of retro-reflectors on the satellites. We develop models that give a precise correction of the range measurements to the centres of mass of the geodetic satellites Lageos and Etalon, appropriate to a variety of different ranging systems, and use the Etalon values, which were not determined during pre-launch tests, in an extended orbital analysis. We have fitted continuous 2.5 year orbits to range observations of the Etalons from the global network of stations, and analysed the results by mapping the range residuals from these orbits into equivalent corrections to orbital elements over short time intervals. From these residuals we have detected and studied large un-modelled along-track accelerations associated with periods during which the satellites are undergoing eclipse by the Earth's shadow. We also find that the eccentricity residuals are significantly different for the two satellites, with Etalon-2 undergoing a year-long eccentricity anomaly similar in character to that experienced at intervals by Lageos-1. The nodal residuals show that the satellites define a very stable reference frame for Earth rotation determination, with very little drift-off during the 2.5 year period. We show that an analysis of more than about eight years of tracking data would be required to derive a significant value for 2. The reference frame defined by the station coordinates derived from the analyses shows very good agreement with that of ITRF93.

The case for monitoring large-scale sea level variability is established in the context of the estimation of the extent of anthropogenic climate change. Satellite altimeters are identified as having the potential to monitor this change with high resolution and accuracy. Possible sources of systematic errors and instabilities in these instruments which would be hurdles to the most accurate monitoring of such ocean signals are examined. Techniques for employing tide gauges to combat such inaccuracies are proposed and developed. The tide gauge at Newhaven in Sussex is used in conjunction with the nearby satellite laser ranger and high-resolution ocean models to estimate the absolute bias of the TOPEX, Poseidon, ERS 1 and ERS 2 altimeters. The theory which underlies the augmentation of altimeter measurements with tide gauge data is developed. In order to apply this, the tide gauges of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment are assessed and their suitability for altimeter calibration is determined. A reliable subset of these gauges is derived. A method of intra-altimeter calibration is developed using these tide gauges to remove the effect of variability over long time scales. In this way the long-term instability in the TOPEX range measurement is inferred and the drift arising from the on-board ultra stable oscillator is thus detected. An extension to this work develops a method for inter-altimeter calibration, allowing the systematic differences between unconnected altimeters to be measured. This is applied to the TOPEX and ERS 1 altimeters.

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The quest for the direct detection and observation of gravitational waves remains one of the lasting scientific challenges of the 20th century, and one that will continue on into the 21 st. Concepts and technologies are being developed that will, early in the new millennium, allow their direct observation for the first time. This will be the beginning of the gravitational wave astronomy revolution. The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mISSIOn is one of the cornerstones of this revolution. Observing in the low-frequency band, it will provide information about our universe that cannot be gathered from the ground. This band contains sources fundamental to our understanding of how the universe began and operates. In turn, fundamental to the LISA mission is the concept of drag-free control. This provides the relatively undisturbed environment for the test-masses which form the references for the measurement of the gravitational waves. Without it the effect of gravitational waves would be but a whisper amongst a cacophony of disturbances. It is drag-free control for the LISA mission which forms the basis for the majority of this thesis. The research and development work carried out by the author has involved the development of a control model of the LISA dragfree control system to assess its feasibility. The author proposes a different approach to the problems involved from that suggested by other authors. It is shown that this approach, unlike those suggested in the mission baseline studies, fulfills the control requirements for the LISA mission. Technological risk assessment in general, as well as that associated with the LISA mission, is also considered.

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An ionospheric topside sounder is a high frequency radar system that is located above the ionosphere, ideally on-board a polar orbiting satellite to provide global coverage. The previous eight satellite sounders have measured the critical frequency of the F2 ionosphere region using traditional swept frequency methods. The most expensive part of these missions however is considered to be the large network of ground support stations required for collecting and processing data. This information has been invaluable in improving our global understanding of the upper ionosphere and the accuracy of critical frequency maps used by HF radio engineers to calculate communications routes and the optimum frequencies for early warning OTH radars. A new technique for the direct detection of critical frequency has been developed, which is called the 'Dispersion Method'. Real data from previous sounders is used in the development and verification of this method. This sounder will not only provide traditional lonograms but detects critical frequency and spread echoes directly from the dispersion of a returning radar pulse. This new method does not use traditional lonograms with their inherent processing complexity and is an order faster than any previous sounder. The 'Dispersion Method' therefore resolves the problems encountered with the past topside sounder missions and produces large quantities of real time data autonomously when required. Previous sounding satellites had little memory capacity, no on-board processing capability, required large antennas and transmitters on satellites with a mass of between 150 and 250 kg. This meant power requirements of about 60 watts per orbit average. A feasibility study to place a third generation topside sounder into low Earth orbit on a 50 kg microsatellite with an orbit average power capacity of only 20 watts has been successfully completed.

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High levels of interference between satellite constellation systems, fading and shadowing are a major problem for the successful performance of communication systems using the allocated L/S frequency bands for Non-Geostationary Earth Orbit (NGEO) satellites. As free spectrum is nonexistent, new systems wishing to operate in this band must co-exist with other users, both satellite and terrestrial. This research is mainly concerned with two subjects. Firstly, band sharing between different systems Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) has been evaluated for maximizing capacity and optimising efficiency of using the spectrum available. For the case of widened channel bandwidth of the CDMA channel, the overlapping was tested under different degrees of channel overlap and different orders of filters. The best result shows that at the optimum degree of channel overlap, capacity increases by up to 21%. For the case of fixed channel bandwidth, the optimum overlapping between CDMA systems depends on the filtering Roll-off factor and achieves an improvement of the spectrum efficiency of up to 13.4%. Also, for a number of narrowband signal users sharing a CDMA channel, the best location of narrowband signals to share spectrum with a CDMA system was found to be at the edge of the CDMA channel. Simulation models have been constructed and developed which show the combination of DS- CDMA techniques, forward error correction (FEC) code techniques and satellite diversity with Rake receiver for improving performance of interference, fading and shadowing under different environments. Voice activity factor has been considered to reduce the effect of multiple access interference (MAI). The results have shown that satellite diversity has a significant effect on the system performance and satellite diversity gain achieves an improvement up to 6dB. Further improvements have been achieved by including concatenated codes to provide different BER for different services. Sharing the frequency band between a number of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation systems is feasible and very useful but only for a limited number of LEOS satellite CDMA based constellations. Furthermore, satellite diversity is an essential factor to achieve a satisfactory level of service availability, especially for urban and suburban environments.