In-Orbit Performance of the GRACE Follow-on Laser Ranging Interferometer. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI) instrument on the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-On mission has provided the first laser interferometric range measurements between remote spacecraft, separated by approximately 220km. Autonomous controls that lock the laser frequency to a cavity reference and establish the 5degrees of freedom two-way laser link between remote spacecraft succeeded on the first attempt. Active beam pointing based on differential wave front sensing compensates spacecraft attitude fluctuations. The LRI has operated continuously without breaks in phase tracking for more than 50days, and has shown biased range measurements similar to the primary ranging instrument based on microwaves, but with much less noise at a level of 1nm/sqrt[Hz] at Fourier frequencies above 100mHz.

published proceedings

  • Phys Rev Lett

altmetric score

  • 72.266

author list (cited authors)

  • Abich, K., Abramovici, A., Amparan, B., Baatzsch, A., Okihiro, B. B., Barr, D. C., ... Zimmermann, M.

citation count

  • 144

complete list of authors

  • Abich, Klaus||Abramovici, Alexander||Amparan, Bengie||Baatzsch, Andreas||Okihiro, Brian Bachman||Barr, David C||Bize, Maxime P||Bogan, Christina||Braxmaier, Claus||Burke, Michael J||Clark, Ken C||Dahl, Christian||Dahl, Katrin||Danzmann, Karsten||Davis, Mike A||de Vine, Glenn||Dickson, Jeffrey A||Dubovitsky, Serge||Eckardt, Andreas||Ester, Thomas||Barranco, Germán Fernández||Flatscher, Reinhold||Flechtner, Frank||Folkner, William M||Francis, Samuel||Gilbert, Martin S||Gilles, Frank||Gohlke, Martin||Grossard, Nicolas||Guenther, Burghardt||Hager, Philipp||Hauden, Jerome||Heine, Frank||Heinzel, Gerhard||Herding, Mark||Hinz, Martin||Howell, James||Katsumura, Mark||Kaufer, Marina||Klipstein, William||Koch, Alexander||Kruger, Micah||Larsen, Kameron||Lebeda, Anton||Lebeda, Arnold||Leikert, Thomas||Liebe, Carl Christian||Liu, Jehhal||Lobmeyer, Lynette||Mahrdt, Christoph||Mangoldt, Thomas||McKenzie, Kirk||Misfeldt, Malte||Morton, Phillip R||Müller, Vitali||Murray, Alexander T||Nguyen, Don J||Nicklaus, Kolja||Pierce, Robert||Ravich, Joshua A||Reavis, Gretchen||Reiche, Jens||Sanjuan, Josep||Schütze, Daniel||Seiter, Christoph||Shaddock, Daniel||Sheard, Benjamin||Sileo, Michael||Spero, Robert||Spiers, Gary||Stede, Gunnar||Stephens, Michelle||Sutton, Andrew||Trinh, Joseph||Voss, Kai||Wang, Duo||Wang, Rabi T||Ware, Brent||Wegener, Henry||Windisch, Steve||Woodruff, Christopher||Zender, Bernd||Zimmermann, Marcus

publication date

  • July 2019