Gravity, Geodesy and Fundamental Physics with BepiColombo’s MORE Investigation

Iess, L.; Asmar, S. W.; Cappuccio, Paolo; Cascioli, Gael; Marchi, Fabrizio De; Stefano, Ivan di; Genova, Antonio; Ashby, Neil; Barriot, Jean‐Pierre; Bender, P. L.; Benedetto, C.; Border, James S.; Budnik, Frank; Ciarcia, S.; Damour, Thibault; Déhant, V.; Achille, G. Di; Ruscio, A. Di; Fienga, A.; Formaro, Roberto; Klioner, Sergei A.; Konopliv, A. S.; Lemaître, Anne; Longo, F.; Mercolino, M.; Mitri, G.; Notaro, Virginia; Olivieri, A.; Paik, Meegyeong; Palli, Alessandra; Schettino, Giulia; Serra, Daniele; Simone, L.; Tommei, Giacomo; Tortora, Paolo; Hoolst, Tim Van; Vokrouhlický, David; Watkins, M. M.; Wu, Xiaoping; Zannoni, Marco

doi:10.1007/s11214-021-00800-3

Cited by 40 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…As a final remark, we outline an approach to extend GRAPE for practical mission planning and compatibility with NASA's SPICE kernels (Acton 1997). This will be formally addressed in a future manuscript and we expect the important results of the Cassini-Huygens (Bertotti et al 2003) and BepiColumbo (Serra et al 2018;Iess et al 2021) radioscience experiments to serve as important verification tests for future versions of GRAPE. When complete, GRAPE will utilise the PN IAU operational-ready spacetime metrics for both geocentric and barycentric studies and will calculate important light-time observables ) associated with interplanetary probes.…”

Section: Grape: First Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

An application of symplectic integration for general relativistic planetary orbitography subject to non-gravitational forces

O’Leary¹,

Barriot

2021

Celest Mech Dyn Astr

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Spacecraft propagation tools describe the motion of near-Earth objects and interplanetary probes using Newton’s theory of gravity supplemented with the approximate general relativistic n-body Einstein–Infeld–Hoffmann equations of motion. With respect to the general theory of relativity and the long-standing recommendations of the International Astronomical Union for astrometry, celestial mechanics and metrology, we believe modern orbitography software is now reaching its limits in terms of complexity. In this paper, we present the first results of a prototype software titled General Relativistic Accelerometer-based Propagation Environment (GRAPE). We describe the motion of interplanetary probes and spacecraft using extended general relativistic equations of motion which account for non-gravitational forces using end-user supplied accelerometer data or approximate dynamical models. We exploit the unique general relativistic quadratic invariant associated with the orthogonality between four-velocity and acceleration and simulate the perturbed orbits for Molniya, Parker Solar Probe and Mercury Planetary Orbiter-like test particles subject to a radiation-like four-force. The accuracy of the numerical procedure is maintained using a 5-stage, $$10^\mathrm{th}$$ 10 th -order structure-preserving Gauss collocation symplectic integration scheme. GRAPE preserves the norm of the tangent vector to the test particle worldline at the order of $$10^{-32}$$ 10 - 32 .

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Section: Grape: First Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

An application of symplectic integration for general relativistic planetary orbitography subject to non-gravitational forces

O’Leary¹,

Barriot

2021

Celest Mech Dyn Astr

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Further details concerning the gravimetry and rotation experiments can be found in Cicalò et al (2016), and Schettino et al (2017), while an extensive analysis of the the relativity experiment is presented in and Schettino et al (2018). Moreover, a comprehensive review of the MORE experiment has been recently published in Iess et al (2021).…”

Section: Simulation Setup and Nominal Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Orbit determination methods for interplanetary missions: development and use of the Orbit14 software

Lari,

Schettino,

Serra

et al. 2021

Preprint

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In the last years, a new generation of interplanetary space missions have been designed for the exploration of the solar system. At the same time, radio-science instrumentation has reached an unprecedented level of accuracy, leading to a significant improvement of our knowledge of celestial bodies. Along with this hardware upgrade, software products for interplanetary missions have been greatly refined. In this context, we introduce Orbit14, a precise orbit determination software developed at the University of Pisa for processing the radio-science data of the BepiColombo and Juno missions. Along the years, many tools have been implemented into the software and Orbit14 capitalized the experience coming from simulations and treatment of real data. In this paper, we present a review of orbit determination methods developed at the University of Pisa for radio-science experiments of interplanetary missions. We describe the basic theory of the process of parameters estimation and refined methods necessary to have full control on experiments involving spacecraft orbiting millions of kilometers far from the Earth. Our aim is to give both an extensive description of the treatment of radio-science experiments and step-to-step instructions for those who are approaching the field of orbit determination in the context of space missions. We show also the work conducted on the Juno and BepiColombo missions by means of the Or-bit14 software. In particular, we summarize the recent results obtained with the gravity experiment of Juno and the simulations performed so far for the gravimetry-rotation and relativity experiments of BepiColombo.

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“…The only official instrument onboard BepiColombo that was originally planned to be operating during cruise was the Mercury Orbiter Radio science Experiment (MORE, Iess et al, 2021) during superior solar conjunctions. Nevertheless, the beginning of the cruise phase has revealed that other instruments on board Mio and MPO could be operating as well and exploited for scientific studies.…”

Section: Operational Instruments Science Topics and Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These include the detection of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and their localization, in particular the gamma-rays that originate from solar flares, and monitoring the local radiation background of the spacecraft due to bombardment by energetic particles of Galactic Cosmic Rays. Last but not least, 7) General relativity test could be performed during superior solar conjunctions (e.g., Bertotti et al, 1993;Iess et al, 2021). Two major constraints had to be taken into account for the planning of the joint observations with BepiColombo.…”

Section: Operational Instruments Science Topics and Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

BepiColombo’s Cruise Phase: Unique Opportunity for Synergistic Observations

Hadid

Génot

Aizawa

et al. 2021

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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The investigation of multi-spacecraft coordinated observations during the cruise phase of BepiColombo (ESA/JAXA) are reported, with a particular emphasis on the recently launched missions, Solar Orbiter (ESA/NASA) and Parker Solar Probe (NASA). Despite some payload constraints, many instruments onboard BepiColombo are operating during its cruise phase simultaneously covering a wide range of heliocentric distances (0.28 AU–0.5 AU). Hence, the various spacecraft configurations and the combined in-situ and remote sensing measurements from the different spacecraft, offer unique opportunities for BepiColombo to be part of these unprecedented multipoint synergistic observations and for potential scientific studies in the inner heliosphere, even before its orbit insertion around Mercury in December 2025. The main goal of this report is to present the coordinated observation opportunities during the cruise phase of BepiColombo (excluding the planetary flybys). We summarize the identified science topics, the operational instruments, the method we have used to identify the windows of opportunity and discuss the planning of joint observations in the future.

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Gravity, Geodesy and Fundamental Physics with BepiColombo’s MORE Investigation

Cited by 40 publications

References 68 publications

An application of symplectic integration for general relativistic planetary orbitography subject to non-gravitational forces

An application of symplectic integration for general relativistic planetary orbitography subject to non-gravitational forces

Orbit determination methods for interplanetary missions: development and use of the Orbit14 software

BepiColombo’s Cruise Phase: Unique Opportunity for Synergistic Observations

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