Improved Algorithms for Radar-based Reconstruction of Asteroid Shapes

Abstract

We describe our implementation of a global-parameter optimizer and Square Root Information Filter (SRIF) into the asteroid-modelling software SHAPE. We compare the performance of our new optimizer with that of the existing sequential optimizer when operating on various forms of simulated data and actual asteroid radar data. In all cases, the new implementation performs substantially better than its predecessor: it converges faster, produces shape models that are more accurate, and solves for spin axis orientations more reliably. We discuss potential future changes to improve SHAPE's fitting speed and accuracy.