Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.g31a0809b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #G31A-0809
Other
[1214] Geodesy And Gravity / Geopotential Theory And Determination, [1241] Geodesy And Gravity / Satellite Geodesy: Technical Issues, [5417] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Gravitational Fields
Scientific paper
Fine orbit tuning will be presented as a tool to enhance the accuracy of the gravity-field parameters based on the data from satellite missions around the Earth or other planetary bodies. A slight variation in the satellite altitude of a few hundred metres or kilometres may dramatically change the pattern and density of the groundtracks, thus leading to a significant difference in the quality of the derived gravity-field parameters. This aspect is important not only to missions dedicated to the gravity-field mapping, but it can be applied to any planetary mission, whose orbital data may yield useful information on the particular gravity field. The geometry of satellite groundtracks is closely connected with the term orbital resonance or repeat orbit, which was intensively studied by the satellite geodesy community since the 1970s. In a systematic way, fine orbit tuning was first applied to altimetry missions for oceanographic purposes in the early 1990s, when it became clear that small changes in the satellite altitude might substantially influence the utility of the data from the onboard instruments. The monthly geopotential solutions from the GRACE mission (in orbit since 2002) displayed apparently worse precision in August-September 2004, which was later found to be caused by a sparser groundtrack pattern due to the passage of the GRACE satellites through the 61/4 orbit resonance. The lessons learned from GRACE were applied by ESA to its gravity field mission GOCE (in orbit since 2009). Here, the situation is different, as the GOCE onboard thrusters are capable of maintaining the satellite at a constant altitude. In order to fully use the measurement potential of the first space gradiometer ever flown, in the GOCE mission planning the influence of orbit geometry was taken into account, and a minimum 2-month repeat period for the orbit was specified. We analysed several orbital configurations of GOCE, as possible candidates for the gravity mapping phases. We found that apart from the required minimum density of the groundtrack grid, also the regularity of the groundtrack pattern may be “tuned” better by small shifts of few hundred metres in the satellite altitude. Finally, we will show how the insight gained on the Earth may be applied to future orbiters around other celestial bodies. Here we found that contrary to the slowly rotating bodies like the Moon, Mercury or Venus, the methods of fine orbit tuning might be particularly useful for space probes orbiting Mars.
Bezdek András
Floberghagen Rune
Klokocnik Jaroslav
Kostelecky Jan
Sebera J.
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