GRACE-Follow On Laser Ranging Interferometer: German contribution

10th International LISA Symposium

Abich, Klaus^1 ; Bogan, Christina^2 ; Braxmaier, Claus^1,3 ; Danzmann, Karsten^2 ; Dehne, Marina^4 ; Gohlke, Martin^1 ; Görth, Alexander^2 ; Heinzel, Gerhard^2 ; Herding, Mark^4 ; Mahrdt, Christoph^2 ; Müller, Vitali^2 ; Nicklaus, Kolja^4 ; Sanjuan, Josep^1 ; Schütze, Daniel^2 ; Sheard, Benjamin^2 ; Stede, Gunnar^2 ; Voss, Kai^4

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institute of Space Systems (DLR-RY), Robert-Hooke-Str. 7, Bremen

28359, Germany^1

Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut, AEI), Callinstrasse 38, Hannover

30419, Germany^2

Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), University of Bremen, Am Fallturm, Bremen

28359, Germany^3

SpaceTech GmbH (STI), Seelbachstrasse 13, Immenstaad

88090, Germany^4

关键词: 1064 nm;    Current status;    Data gap;    Earth's gravity fields;    Gravity recovery and climate experiments;    Heterodyne laser interferometry;    Laser ranging;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012010/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/610/1/012010

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) is a joint US/German mission that has been mapping the Earth's gravity field since 2002 by measuring the distance variations between two spacecraft using a micro-wave link. GRACE is reaching the end of its lifetime. For this reason and in order to minimize data gaps, an almost identical mission will be launched in 2017. This mission is called GRACE-Follow On (GRACE-FO) and it will include an additional instrument as a technological demonstrator to monitor distance changes between the spacecraft. This instrument is the Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI), which is based on heterodyne laser interferometry at 1064 nm and takes advantage of many technologies developed for LISA. In this paper a short overview of the current status of the German contribution is presented.