Citation
Abstract
This report outlines ongoing efforts to update the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) MODel and ESTimate (MODEST) software [1] to comply with International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) conventions [2] and the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF) [3], while also advancing the framework’s automation and analytical capabilities. Current development priorities include adding the modeling of galactic aberration drift [4], pole tide loading [5], and atmospheric effects [6], along with additional enhancements to JPL’s processing workflow. A new Python-based pipeline automates the transformation of vgosDB [7] sessions into analysis-ready inputs1 , incorporating robust pre-screening, flexible model configuration, and iterative outlier rejection, with automation extended to the preparation and packaging of Software INdependent EXchange (SINEX) [8] deliverables for operational use. The resulting SINEX-compliant outputs—comprising Earth orientation parameters (EOP) and station coordinates—contribute directly to JPL’s role in the global geodetic infrastructure and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) reference frame realization. A recent solution using data from 2010 to 2022 yielded UT1-UTC residuals with a weighted root mean square (WRMS) of 13.4 microseconds (µs), demonstrating that these improvements have preserved MODEST’s accuracy, comparable to other state-of-the-art VLBI solutions, while substantially reducing the need for manual session editing and user intervention.
Keywords
Details
- Volume
- 42-244
- Published
- February 15, 2026
- Pages
- 1–18
- File Size
- 0.6 MB