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Requirements Analysis for Future Satellite Gravity Mission Improved-GRACE

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Abstract

The Earth’s gravitational field from the Next-Generation Gravimetry Mission (NGGM) and the Improved-Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Improved-GRACE) complete up to degree and order 120 is recovered by a closed-loop numerical simulation using different orbital altitudes of 325 and 300 km, different orbital inclinations of 96.78° and 89° and different inter-satellite ranges of 10 and 50 km. The preferred orbit parameters of the future twin Improved-GRACE satellites are proposed based on the results of the simulations in this study. The research results show: (1) In order to achieve the scientific objectives, which require that the accuracy of the next-generation Earth gravity field models is at least one order of magnitude better than that of the current gravity models, the orbit design at an altitude of 300 ± 50 km is recommended for the future Improved-GRACE mission. This altitude is determined by a trade-off analysis between the recovery accuracy of the gravity field and the operational lifetime of the satellite system. (2) Because the accuracy of the Earth’s gravitational field from NGGM with an orbital inclination of 96.78° will be decreased due to a lack of the observation data in the polar areas, we propose that a near-polar orbit (inclination of 89° ± 2°) is a preferable selection for the future twin Improved-GRACE satellites. (3) The future Improved-GRACE mission has to adopt an inter-satellite range of 50 ± 10 km, because the common signals of the Earth’s gravitational field between the twin NGGM satellites will be substantially eliminated with a shorter inter-satellite range of 10 km. With these orbit design parameters, the Earth’s gravitational field from the Improved-GRACE mission is precisely recovered complete up to degree and order 120 with a cumulative geoid height error of about 0.7 mm.

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Acknowledgments

We greatly appreciate the helpful suggestions from editors and anonymous reviewers. This work was supported by the Main Direction Program of Knowledge Innovation of Chinese Academy of Sciences for Distinguished Young Scholar (Grant No. KZCX2-EW-QN114), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41004006, 41202094, 41131067 and 11173049), the Merit-based Scientific Research Foundation of the State Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China for Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (Grant No. 2011), the Open Research Fund Program of the Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment and Geodesy, Ministry of Education, China (Grant No. 11-01-02), the Open Research Fund Program of the Key Laboratory of Geo-Informatics of National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geo-information of China (Grant No. 201322), the Open Research Fund Program of the State Key Laboratory of Geo-information Engineering, China (Grant No. SKLGIE2013-M-1-5), the Main Direction Program of Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. Y309451045) and the Research Fund Program of State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, China (Grant No. Y309491050).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430077, China

    Wei Zheng, Houtse Hsu & Min Zhong

  2. College of Science, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430081, China

    Meijuan Yun

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  1. Wei Zheng
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Correspondence to Wei Zheng.

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Zheng, W., Hsu, H., Zhong, M. et al. Requirements Analysis for Future Satellite Gravity Mission Improved-GRACE. Surv Geophys 36, 87–109 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-014-9306-y

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