Since 2023, three different solutions for the latest (2020) realization of the International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) are publicly available, namely the ITRF2020, the JTRF2020, and the DTRF2020. All solutions are based on the same input data but were derived using different combination approaches and data correction strategies. Since the ITRS realisations are used as a priori reference frames for precise orbit determination (POD) of Earth orbiting satellites, it is important to investigate the impact of the different frames on the POD results.
In this study, we want to show influences of the different xTRF2020 solutions on the POD of altimetry missions with focus on technique-related frames (SLRF and DPOD). We use single-technique (SLR and DORIS), as well as combined orbit solutions and present, which data correction models with respect to either the reference frames (e.g., non-tidal loading) or observations (e.g., biases) should be applied for reliable POD results. We analyse time series of orbit differences and geodetic parameters.