Analysis of GRACE range-rate residuals with focus on KBR instrument system noise

authored by: Sujata Goswami, Balaji Devaraju, Matthias Weigelt, Torsten Mayer-Gürr
Abstract: We investigate the post-fit range-rate residuals after the gravity field parameter estimation from the inter-satellite ranging data of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. Of particular interest is the high-frequency spectrum (f> 20 mHz) which is dominated by the microwave ranging system noise. Such analysis is carried out to understand the yet unsolved discrepancy between the predicted baseline errors and the observed ones. The analysis consists of two parts. First, we present the effects in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNRs) of the K-band ranging system. The SNRs are also affected by the Moon intrusions into the star cameras’ field of view and magnetic torquer rod currents in addition to the effects presented by Harvey et al. (2016). Second, we analyze the range-rate residuals to study the effects of the KBR system noise. The range-rate residuals are dominated by the non-stationary errors in the high-frequency observations. These high-frequency errors in the range-rate residuals are found to be dependent on the temperature and effects of Sun intrusion into the star cameras’ field of view reflected in the SNRs of the K-band phase observations.
Organisation(s): Institute of Geodesy
External Organisation(s): Graz University of Technology
Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute)
Type: Article
Journal: Advances in space research
Volume: 62
Pages: 304-316
No. of pages: 13
ISSN: 0273-1177
Publication date: 15.07.2018
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/10.48550/arXiv.1707.03724 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2018.04.036 (Access: Closed)
: Details in the research portal "Research@Leibniz University"

BibTeX

@article{50a017872a164aa79eae6d2c8825b404,
title = "Analysis of GRACE range-rate residuals with focus on KBR instrument system noise",
abstract = "We investigate the post-fit range-rate residuals after the gravity field parameter estimation from the inter-satellite ranging data of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. Of particular interest is the high-frequency spectrum (f> 20 mHz) which is dominated by the microwave ranging system noise. Such analysis is carried out to understand the yet unsolved discrepancy between the predicted baseline errors and the observed ones. The analysis consists of two parts. First, we present the effects in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNRs) of the K-band ranging system. The SNRs are also affected by the Moon intrusions into the star cameras{\textquoteright} field of view and magnetic torquer rod currents in addition to the effects presented by Harvey et al. (2016). Second, we analyze the range-rate residuals to study the effects of the KBR system noise. The range-rate residuals are dominated by the non-stationary errors in the high-frequency observations. These high-frequency errors in the range-rate residuals are found to be dependent on the temperature and effects of Sun intrusion into the star cameras{\textquoteright} field of view reflected in the SNRs of the K-band phase observations.",
keywords = "KBR system noise, Non-stationary error analysis, Range-rate residuals, SNR analysis",
author = "Sujata Goswami and Balaji Devaraju and Matthias Weigelt and Torsten Mayer-G{\"u}rr",
note = "Funding Information: We acknowledge support from the German Research Foundation DFG within SFB 1128 geo-Q to fund this research. We acknowledge Prof. Jakob Flury for the resources and the opportunity he provided us to work on this research topic. We acknowledge the discussions with Gerhard L.Kruizinga, Tamara Bandikova regarding an insight into the sensors data and the ongoing work in this direction. ",
year = "2018",
month = jul,
day = "15",
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.1707.03724",
language = "English",
volume = "62",
pages = "304--316",
journal = "Advances in space research",
issn = "0273-1177",
publisher = "Elsevier Ltd.",
number = "2",
}