On orbit performance of the GRACE Follow-On Laser Ranging Interferometer

• Published in: arXiv.org 2019-06
• Main Authors: Abich, Klaus, Braxmaier, Claus, Gohlke, Martin, Sanjuan, Josep, Abramovici, Alexander, Brian Bachman Okihiro, Barr, David C, Bize, Maxime P, Burke, Michael J, Clark, Ken C, de Vine, Glenn, Dickson, Jeffrey A, Dubovitsky, Serge, Folkner, William M, Francis, Samuel, Gilbert, Martin S, Katsumura, Mark, Klipstein, William, Larsen, Kameron, Liebe, Carl Christian, Liu, Jehhal, McKenzie, Kirk, Morton, Phillip R, Murray, Alexander T, Nguyen, Don J, Ravich, Joshua A, Shaddock, Daniel, Spero, Robert, Spiers, Gary, Sutton, Andrew, Trinh, Joseph, Wang, Duo, Wang, Rabi T, Ware, Brent, Woodruff, Christopher, Amparan, Bengie, Davis, Mike A, Howell, James, Kruger, Micah, Lobmeyer, Lynette, Pierce, Robert, Reavis, Gretchen, Sileo, Michael, Stephens, Michelle, Baatzsch, Andreas, Dahl, Christian, Dahl, Katrin, Gilles, Frank, Hager, Philipp, Herding, Mark, Kaufer, Marina, Nicklaus, Kolja, Voss, Kai, Bogan, Christina, Danzmann, Karsten, Germán Fernández Barranco, Heinzel, Gerhard, Koch, Alexander, Mahrdt, Christoph, Misfeldt, Malte, Müller, Vitali, Reiche, Jens, Schütze, Daniel, Sheard, Benjamin, Stede, Gunnar, Wegener, Henry, Eckardt, Andreas, Burghardt Guenther, Mangoldt, Thomas, Zender, Bernd, Thomas, Ester, Heine, Frank, Seiter, Christoph, Windisch, Steve, Flatscher, Reinhold, Flechtner, Frank, Grossard, Nicolas, Hauden, Jerome, Hinz, Martin, Leikert, Thomas, Zimmermann, Marcus, Lebeda, Anton, Arnold Lebeda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: GRACE (experiment); Laser beams; Laser ranging; Lasers; Microwaves; Variation; Wave fronts
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1907.00104

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 220 km. Autonomous controls that lock the laser frequency to a cavity reference and establish the 5 degree of freedom two-way laser link between remote spacecraft succeeded on the first attempt. Active beam pointing based on differential wavefront sensing compensates spacecraft attitude fluctuations. The LRI has operated continuously without breaks in phase tracking for more than 50 days, and has shown biased range measurements similar to the primary ranging instrument based on microwaves, but with much less noise at a level of \(1\,{\rm nm}/\sqrt{\rm Hz}\) at Fourier frequencies above 100 mHz.