Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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UP: Fachverband Umweltphysik

UP 11: Methods 2

UP 11.1: Talk

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 09:30–09:45, HFT-FT 131

Inter-satellite laser interferometry for a GRACE follow-on mission — •Christoph Mahrdt, Benjamin Sheard, Daniel Schütze, Gunnar Stede, Vitali Müller, Oliver Gerberding, Marina Dehne, Nils Brause, Gerhard Heinzel, and Karsten Danzmann — Max-Planck Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut), Hannover)

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) is the first mission to monitor mass changes within the Earth system on a global scale. Launched in 2002 GRACE produced measurements of Earth's time varying gravitational field with unprecedented accuracy, revealing mass changes in the Cryosphere and Hydrosphere. Continuation of the measurements after the expected end of orbit lifetime in 2015 is important to gain knowledge on long term trends and climate change. Therefor a GRACE follow-on mission is planned for 2016. The design will be a copy of the current GRACE mission with some minor improvements to reduce development costs and risk. A way to improve the estimates of the gravitational field in future missions is to use inter-satellite laser interferometry to increase the ranging precision. To test the new technology in space a laser interferometer demonstrator is planned to be placed additionally to the microwave instrument on board the two satellites. This talk will give an overview of the planned design and the current status of its development.