Enhancing the precision limits of interferometric satellite geodesy missions.

ABSTRACT: Satellite geodesy uses the measurement of the motion of one or more satellites to infer precise information about the Earth's gravitational field. In this work, we consider the achievable precision limits on such measurements by examining approximate models for the three main noise sources in the measurement process of the current Gravitational Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-On mission: laser phase noise, accelerometer noise and quantum noise. We show that, through time-delay interferometry, it is possible to remove the laser phase noise from the measurement, allowing for almost three orders of magnitude improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. Several differential mass satellite formations are presented which can further enhance the signal-to-noise ratio through the remov

SUBMITTER: Conlon LO 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9177761 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature