A new method for orbit determination: Unit vector method

In this paper, a method of orbit determination is presented according to the principle of unit vector method (UVM). The model and arithmetic are improved and it not only suits initial orbit determination with short arc data, it also suits orbit improvement with data longer. It is also suitable for orbit of any eccentricity and any inclination. It omits most partial derivatives of all the elements which must be calculated in classical differential orbit improvement (DOI), so, it is more efficient than DOI, and the accuracy of orbit determination and convergence of algorithm are also improved appreciably.