Evaluation of the GRACE Inter-Satellite Ranging Instrument With GPS Measurements

J. Kim, U-D. Ko, W. Bertiger, F. Flechtner

Abstract:	GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) is the first dedicated gravity mapping mission. GRACE is a joint development by NASA and German DLR and was launched in March 2002. Its primary measurements are the distance changes between two co-orbiting low earth satellites. GRACE has been improved the Earth gravity model accuracy by nearly two factor of magnitude over pre-launch models. The K-band inter-satellite ranging (KBR) system is the primary measurement system of the GRACE mission. During the preliminary design and ground test period of the GRACE satellites, comprehensive KBR simulations were performed to evaluate the accuracy level of the KBR and to predict the overall GRACE mission performance. Comparison between the simulated KBR measurements and real flight measurements can improve the fidelity of the simulation models and may contribute to the calibration of the KBR measurements. This paper describes the pre-flight KBR simulation models and one of the methods to evaluate the KBR performance using onboard GPS measurements.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006) September 26 - 29, 2006 Fort Worth Convention Center Fort Worth, TX
Pages:	267 - 275
Cite this article:	Kim, J., Ko, U-D., Bertiger, W., Flechtner, F., "Evaluation of the GRACE Inter-Satellite Ranging Instrument With GPS Measurements," Proceedings of the 19th International Technical Meeting of the Satellite Division of The Institute of Navigation (ION GNSS 2006), Fort Worth, TX, September 2006, pp. 267-275.
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