Tilt-to-length coupling in the grace follow-on laser ranging interferometer

authored by: Henry Wegener, Vitali Müller, Gerhard Heinzel, Malte Misfeldt
Abstract: The Laser Ranging Interferometer onboard the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On satellites is the first laser interferometer in space measuring satellite-to-satellite distance variations. One of its main noise sources at low frequencies is the so-called tilt-to-length coupling, caused by satellite pointing variations. This error is estimated by fitting a linear coupling model, making use of the so-called center-of-mass calibration maneuvers. These maneuvers are performed regularly for the original purpose of center-of-mass determination. Here, the results of the tilt-to-length estimations for the Laser Ranging Interferometer are presented in terms of coupling factors, which are all within 200 μm ⋅ rad⁻¹ and thus meet the requirements. From these parameters, estimations of nadir and cross-track components of the spacecraft center-of-mass positions with respect to the interferometer reference point are derived, providing an additional method to track center-of-mass movement over time.
Organisation(s): Institute of Gravitation Physics
External Organisation(s): Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
Type: Article
Journal: Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
Volume: 57
Pages: 1362-1372
No. of pages: 11
ISSN: 0022-4650
Publication date: 27.07.2020
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Aerospace Engineering, Space and Planetary Science
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.2514/1.A34790 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{64a2b0ae05d544d3b8359e3248b1af61,
title = "Tilt-to-length coupling in the grace follow-on laser ranging interferometer",
abstract = "The Laser Ranging Interferometer onboard the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On satellites is the first laser interferometer in space measuring satellite-to-satellite distance variations. One of its main noise sources at low frequencies is the so-called tilt-to-length coupling, caused by satellite pointing variations. This error is estimated by fitting a linear coupling model, making use of the so-called center-of-mass calibration maneuvers. These maneuvers are performed regularly for the original purpose of center-of-mass determination. Here, the results of the tilt-to-length estimations for the Laser Ranging Interferometer are presented in terms of coupling factors, which are all within 200 μm ⋅ rad−1 and thus meet the requirements. From these parameters, estimations of nadir and cross-track components of the spacecraft center-of-mass positions with respect to the interferometer reference point are derived, providing an additional method to track center-of-mass movement over time.",
author = "Henry Wegener and Vitali M{\"u}ller and Gerhard Heinzel and Malte Misfeldt",
note = "Funding information: Parts of this work have been financially supported by the Bundesmi-nisterium f{\"u}r Bildung und Forschung, project number 03F0654B. Moreover, parts of this work have been supported by funding from the Sonderforschungsbereich 1128 “Relativistic Geodesy and Gravimetry with Quantum Sensors (geo-Q)” by the Deutsche Forschungsgemein-schaft. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) for support within the LEGACY framework on low-frequency gravitational wave astronomy (M.IF.A.-QOP18098). The authors would like to thank the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On Science Data System (SDS) for providing Level-1 instrument data. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank the German Space Operations Center (DLR, German Aerospace Center– GSOC) for helpful discussions about GRACE Follow-On attitude control.",
year = "2020",
month = jul,
day = "27",
doi = "10.2514/1.A34790",
language = "English",
volume = "57",
pages = "1362--1372",
journal = "Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets",
issn = "0022-4650",
publisher = "American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc. (AIAA)",
number = "6",
}