Abstract
In 2009, the geoscience community has fixed an objective of 1 mm accuracy and 0.1 mm/yr stability for the terrestrial reference frame (TRF) realization (Global Geodetic Observing System, GGOS, Meeting the Requirements of a Global Society on a Changing Planet in 2020, Plag and Pearlman in Global geodetic observing system: meeting the requirements of a global society on a changing planet in 2020. Springer, Berlin, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02687-4). This accuracy and stability are needed for diversified studies like climate change, tectonic sciences and more generally any geoscience requiring the use of an accurate and precise TRF. Unfortunately, they are still not reached by the last International Terrestrial Reference Frame. To reach this goal, the use of “multi-technique” satellites as “space-ties” has been studied since 2011 and a few proposals have been made in response to different space agency calls: the Geodetic Reference Antenna in Space (GRASP) mission—NASA Earth Venture 2 call, Eratosthenes-GRASP (E-GRASP)—ESA Earth Explorer 9 (EE9) call, MOBILE—ESA EE10 call, MARVEL—CNES Séminaire de Prospective Scientifique 2019). In this article, we present the numerical simulations carried out by the French Groupe de Recherche de Géodésie Spatiale (GRGS) for the E-GRASP proposal in response to the ESA EE-9 call and their improvements carried out afterwards. These simulations aim to answer three different questions:
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Is it possible to reach the GGOS requirements for the TRF with the measurements of a GRASP-like satellite like E-GRASP alone?
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If it is possible, which level of accuracy for the positioning of the on-board antennas is needed?
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What is the minimal lifetime of a E-GRASP mission to reach the GGOS requirements?
The results of these simulations show that a E-GRASP satellite can allow us to reach, after five years, an accuracy close to 1 mm and a stability better than 0.1 mm/yr for the TRF. However, it is necessary to ensure a positioning better than 1 mm for the on-board antennas. We therefore encourage the new ESA GENESIS mission proposal, accepted during the ESA last Ministerial meeting on 23rd November 2022, which takes up the concept of a GRASP-type satellite.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
General Assembly resolution 69/266, A global geodetic reference frame for sustainable development, A/RES/69/266 (26 February 2015), available from undocs.org/en/A/RES/69/266.
Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite.
Satellite Laser Ranging.
Very Long Baseline Interferometry.
Global Positioning System.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank B. Christophe and B. Foulon of Office National d’Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales for the detailed noise model of the accelerometer and the whole team which participated in the E-GRASP proposal in response to the ESA EE-9 call. This work was supported by CNES through the TOSCA committee and by the ANR-16-CE01-0001 GEODESIE project of the French Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR). This study contributes to the IdEx Université de Paris ANR-18-IDEX-0001. The research leading to these results by MM has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) GRACEFUL Synergy Grant No. 855677. The comments from three anonymous reviewers helped to improve this paper.
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AP, DC, and RB designed and performed the research; FP, SL, J-CM, SG, VS-G, J-ML, FM, and SN provided useful suggestion and help to simulate the data and noise; MM provided useful help and support for this study; AP, DC, and RB analyzed data; AP wrote the paper.
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Pollet, A., Coulot, D., Biancale, R. et al. GRGS numerical simulations for a GRASP-like mission. J Geod 97, 45 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-023-01730-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00190-023-01730-4