Simulation-based evaluation of a cold atom interferometry gradiometer concept for gravity field recovery

authored by: Karim Douch, Hu Wu, Christian Schubert, Jürgen Müller, Franck Pereira dos Santos
Abstract: The prospects of future satellite gravimetry missions to sustain a continuous and improved observation of the gravitational field have stimulated studies of new concepts of space inertial sensors with potentially improved precision and stability. This is in particular the case for cold-atom interferometry (CAI) gradiometry which is the object of this paper. The performance of a specific CAI gradiometer design is studied here in terms of quality of the recovered gravity field through a closed-loop numerical simulation of the measurement and processing workflow. First we show that mapping the time-variable field on a monthly basis would require a noise level below 5mE/Hz. The mission scenarios are therefore focused on the static field, like GOCE. Second, the stringent requirement on the angular velocity of a one-arm gradiometer, which must not exceed 10 ^-6 rad/s, leads to two possible modes of operation of the CAI gradiometer: the nadir and the quasi-inertial mode. In the nadir mode, which corresponds to the usual Earth-pointing satellite attitude, only the gradient V _yy , along the cross-track direction, is measured. In the quasi-inertial mode, the satellite attitude is approximately constant in the inertial reference frame and the 3 diagonal gradients V _xx ,V _yy and V _zz are measured. Both modes are successively simulated for a 239 km altitude orbit and the error on the recovered gravity models eventually compared to GOCE solutions. We conclude that for the specific CAI gradiometer design assumed in this paper, only the quasi-inertial mode scenario would be able to significantly outperform GOCE results at the cost of technically challenging requirements on the orbit and attitude control.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
Institute of Quantum Optics
External Organisation(s): Observatoire de Paris (OBSPARIS)
Type: Article
Journal: Advances in space research
Volume: 61
Pages: 1307-1323
No. of pages: 17
ISSN: 0273-1177
Publication date: 09.12.2017
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Aerospace Engineering, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Geophysics, Atmospheric Science, Space and Planetary Science, Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.005 (Access: Unknown)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{42a69247c5b6400a9b61e8a24220b5d3,
title = "Simulation-based evaluation of a cold atom interferometry gradiometer concept for gravity field recovery",
abstract = " The prospects of future satellite gravimetry missions to sustain a continuous and improved observation of the gravitational field have stimulated studies of new concepts of space inertial sensors with potentially improved precision and stability. This is in particular the case for cold-atom interferometry (CAI) gradiometry which is the object of this paper. The performance of a specific CAI gradiometer design is studied here in terms of quality of the recovered gravity field through a closed-loop numerical simulation of the measurement and processing workflow. First we show that mapping the time-variable field on a monthly basis would require a noise level below 5mE/Hz. The mission scenarios are therefore focused on the static field, like GOCE. Second, the stringent requirement on the angular velocity of a one-arm gradiometer, which must not exceed 10 -6 rad/s, leads to two possible modes of operation of the CAI gradiometer: the nadir and the quasi-inertial mode. In the nadir mode, which corresponds to the usual Earth-pointing satellite attitude, only the gradient V yy , along the cross-track direction, is measured. In the quasi-inertial mode, the satellite attitude is approximately constant in the inertial reference frame and the 3 diagonal gradients V xx ,V yy and V zz are measured. Both modes are successively simulated for a 239 km altitude orbit and the error on the recovered gravity models eventually compared to GOCE solutions. We conclude that for the specific CAI gradiometer design assumed in this paper, only the quasi-inertial mode scenario would be able to significantly outperform GOCE results at the cost of technically challenging requirements on the orbit and attitude control. ",
keywords = "Closed-loop simulation, Cold atom interferometry, Gravity field recovery, Space gravity gradiometry",
author = "Karim Douch and Hu Wu and Christian Schubert and J{\"u}rgen M{\"u}ller and {Pereira dos Santos}, Franck",
note = "Funding information: This study was supported by the European Space Agency through Contract No. 4000112677/14/NL/MP. The authors would like to thank all the collaborators of the project, in particular Baptiste Battelier, Andrea Bertoldi, Sven Herrmannn, Merle Cornelius, Naceur Gaaloul, Dennis Becker, Ernst Rasel and Norman Guerlebeck. Comments and feedbacks from Christian Siemes were greatly appreciated. K. Douch, J. M{\"u}ller, C. Schubert and H. Wu also acknowledge the Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 1128 geo-Q, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). C. Schubert would like to thank Sven Abend for comments and acknowledges financial support from ”Nieders{\"a}chsisches Vorab” through the ”Quantum and Nano- Metrology (QUANOMET)” initiative within the project QT3.",
year = "2017",
month = dec,
day = "9",
doi = "10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.005",
language = "English",
volume = "61",
pages = "1307--1323",
journal = "Advances in space research",
issn = "0273-1177",
publisher = "Elsevier Ltd.",
number = "5",
}