Next Generation Gravity Mission Elements of the Mass Change and Geoscience International Constellation: From Orbit Selection to Instrument and Mission Design

Massotti, Luca; Siemes, Christian; March, Günther; Haagmans, Roger; Silvestrin, Pierluigi

doi:10.3390/rs13193935

Cited by 37 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This differential acceleration measurement noise is not the only relevant source of uncertainty in extracting a model of the Earth's gravity or mass distribution; a two spacecraft mission sampling a given point on the Earth at roughly two week intervals "undersamples" the gravitational changes caused by weather; local mm-scale water equivalent height mass anomalies can be overwhelmed by local variations in the roughly 10 m equivalent H 2 O height of the atmosphere mass, introducing a significant aliasing effect. This problem can be addressed by multiple satellite pairs in appropriately coordinated orbits, which will be introduced in the ESA-NASA NGGM mission [11] and perhaps other future inter-agency projects.…”

Section: Rationale and Possible Top-level Requirements For A Geodesy ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accelerometry data from GRACE-FO shows a typical along-track SC drag acceleration of roughly 300 µm/s 2 [12], with large orbital "day-night" peakpeak variations up to many tens of nm/s 2 and longer term variability with the solar cycle. Missions reaching down to 400 km altitude expect drag accelerations up to roughly µm/s 2 [11]. We consider as a reference electrostatic actuation authority requirement of 1 µm/s 2 , with comments on the impact of varying this.…”

Section: Top Geodesy Grs Design Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Application of LISA Gravitational Reference Sensor Hardware to Future Intersatellite Geodesy Missions

et al. 2022

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Like gravitational wave detection, inter-spacecraft geodesy is a measurement of gravitational tidal accelerations deforming a constellation of two or more orbiting reference test masses (TM). The LISA TM system requires TM in free fall with residual stray accelerations approaching the fm/s2/Hz1/2 level in the mHz band, as demonstrated in the LISA Pathfinder “Einstein’s geodesic explorer” mission. Current geodesy missions are limited by accelerometers with 100 pm/s2/Hz1/2 level, due to intrinsic design limitations, as well as the challenging low Earth orbit environment and operating conditions. A reduction in the TM acceleration noise could lead to an important improvement in the scientific return of future geodesy missions focusing on mass change, especially in a scenario with multiple pairs of geodesy satellites. We present here a preliminary assessment of how the LISA TM system, known as the “gravitational reference sensor” (GRS), could be adapted for use in future geodesy missions aiming at residual TM accelerations noise at the pm/s2/Hz1/2 level, addressing the major design issues and performance limitations. We find that such a performance is possible in a geodesy GRS that is simpler and smaller than that used for LISA, with a lighter, sub-kg TM and gaps reduced from 4 mm to less than 1 mm. Acceleration noise performance limitations will likely be closely tied to the required levels of applied actuation forces on the TM.

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Section: Rationale and Possible Top-level Requirements For A Geodesy ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Top Geodesy Grs Design Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of LISA Gravitational Reference Sensor Hardware to Future Intersatellite Geodesy Missions

et al. 2022

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“…March et al [25] present such an analysis for the CHAMP, GOCE, GRACE, and Swarm missions, demonstrating that a wellchosen constant energy accommodation coefficient gives the highest consistency between the missions, which leads to the conclusion that models for variable energy accommodation coefficients can still be improved. Depending on the launch date, we expect that either the GRACE-FO and Swarm satellites are still in orbit or future gravity satellites have been launched [26] and provide thermosphere density observations.…”

Section: Verification Of Aerodynamic Modelling and Gassurface Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

CASPA-ADM: a mission concept for observing thermospheric mass density

et al. 2022

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Cold Atom technology has undergone rapid development in recent years and has been demonstrated in space in the form of cold atom scientific experiments and technology demonstrators, but has so far not been used as the fundamental sensor technology in a science mission. The European Space Agency therefore funded a 7-month project to define the CASPA-ADM mission concept, which serves to demonstrate cold-atom interferometer (CAI) accelerometer technology in space. To make the mission concept useful beyond the technology demonstration, it aims at providing observations of thermosphere mass density in the altitude region of 300–400 km, which is presently not well covered with observations by other missions. The goal for the accuracy of the thermosphere density observations is 1% of the signal, which will enable the study of gas–surface interactions as well as the observation of atmospheric waves. To reach this accuracy, the CAI accelerometer is complemented with a neutral mass spectrometer, ram wind sensor, and a star sensor. The neutral mass spectrometer data is considered valuable on its own since the last measurements of atmospheric composition and temperature in the targeted altitude range date back to 1980s. A multi-frequency GNSS receiver provides not only precise positions, but also thermosphere density observations with a lower resolution along the orbit, which can be used to validate the CAI accelerometer measurements. In this paper, we provide an overview of the mission concept and its objectives, the orbit selection, and derive first requirements for the scientific payload.

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“…The largest error contributor of state-of-the-art missions that monitor the time-variable gravity field (e.g., GRACE and GRACE-FO) is the effect of aliasing that results from the poor observation geometry and the insufficient spatiotemporal sampling of the gravity signal. The ESA/NASA MAGIC mission concept [1] is a well-designed satellite constellation that aims to tackle this limitation. Moreover, accelerometers used so far in gravity missions exhibit relatively high noise at low frequency and are the next largest error contributor after the aliasing effects.…”

Section: Introduction 1general Context Of Space Gravity Missions and ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, due to the limited temporal resolution, neighboring ground tracks may feature highly different signal content, which then manifests as typical north-south stripes in the gravity solution, as temporal variations are misinterpreted as spatial ones. The ESA/NASA MAGIC mission concept [1] is a welldesigned satellite constellation that aims to tackle this limitation. Moreover, accelerometers used so far in gravity missions exhibit relative high noise at low frequency and are the next-largest error contributor after the aliasing effects.…”

Section: Introduction 1general Context Of Space Gravity Missions and ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hybrid Electrostatic–Atomic Accelerometer for Future Space Gravity Missions

et al. 2022

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Long-term observation of Earth’s temporal gravity field with enhanced temporal and spatial resolution is a major objective for future satellite gravity missions. Improving the performance of the accelerometers present in such missions is one of the main paths to explore. In this context, we propose to study an original concept of a hybrid accelerometer associating a state-of-the-art electrostatic accelerometer (EA) and a promising quantum sensor based on cold atom interferometry. To assess the performance potential of such an instrument, numerical simulations were performed to determine its impact in terms of gravity field retrieval. Taking advantage of the long-term stability of the cold atom interferometer (CAI), it is shown that the reduced drift of the hybrid sensor could lead to improved gravity field retrieval. Nevertheless, this gain vanishes once temporal variations of the gravity field and related aliasing effects are taken into account. Improved de-aliasing models or some specific satellite constellations are then required to maximize the impact of the accelerometer performance gain. To evaluate the achievable acceleration performance in-orbit, a numerical simulator of the hybrid accelerometer was developed and preliminary results are given. The instrument simulator was in part validated by reproducing the performance achieved with a hybrid lab prototype operating on the ground. The problem of satellite rotation impact on the CAI was also investigated both with instrument performance simulations and experimental demonstrations. It is shown that the proposed configuration, where the EA’s proof-mass acts as the reference mirror for the CAI, seems a promising approach to allow the mitigation of satellite rotation. To evaluate the feasibility of such an instrument for space applications, a preliminary design is elaborated along with a preliminary error, mass, volume, and electrical power consumption budget.

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Next Generation Gravity Mission Elements of the Mass Change and Geoscience International Constellation: From Orbit Selection to Instrument and Mission Design

Cited by 37 publications

References 51 publications

Application of LISA Gravitational Reference Sensor Hardware to Future Intersatellite Geodesy Missions

Application of LISA Gravitational Reference Sensor Hardware to Future Intersatellite Geodesy Missions

CASPA-ADM: a mission concept for observing thermospheric mass density

Hybrid Electrostatic–Atomic Accelerometer for Future Space Gravity Missions

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