The Benefits of Future Quantum Accelerometers for Satellite Gravimetry

Abstract

We investigate the benefits of future quantum accelerometers based on cold atom interferometry (CAI) on current and upcoming satellite gravity mission concepts. These mission concepts include satellite-to-satellite tracking (SST) in a single-pair (GRACE-like) and double-pair constellation as well as satellite gravity gradiometry (SGG, single satellite, GOCE-like). Regarding instruments, four scenarios are considered: current-generation electrostatic (GRACE-, GOCE-like), next-generation electrostatic, conservative hybrid/CAI and optimistic hybrid/CAI. For SST, it is shown that temporal aliasing poses currently the dominating error source in simulated global gravity field solutions independent of the investigated instrument and constellation. To still quantify the advantages of CAI instruments on the gravity functional itself, additional simulations are performed where the impact of temporal aliasing is synthetically reduced. When neglecting temporal aliasing, future accelerometers in conjunction with future ranging instruments can substantially improve the retrieval performance of the Earth's gravity field (depending on instrument and constellation). These simulation results are further investigated regarding possible benefit for hydrological use cases where these improvements can also be observed (when omitting temporal aliasing). For SGG, it is demonstrated that, with realistic instrument assumptions, one is still mostly insensitive to time-variable gravity and not competitive with the SST principle. However, due to the improved instrument sensitivity of quantum gradiometers compared to the GOCE mission, static gravity field solutions can be improved significantly.