Reviews on Deep Space Satellite Gravity Measurement Mission

Abstract

The successful implementation of the international gravity satellite mission around the Earth，named CHAMP（CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload），GRACE（Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment）and GOCE（Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer），and the international satellite gravity measurement program orbiting the Moon，named GRAIL（Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory）, and the upcoming launch of the international next-generation Earth’s gravity satellite GRACE Follow-On will usher in an unprecedented high precision and high spatial resolution of the deep space satellite gravity detection era. In this paper，the research background，the necessity，the feasibility study，the construction of the software platform，the orbit perturbation and the future research direction of the deep-space satellite gravity measurement are demonstrated. The deep-space satellite gravity measurement technology has a broad application prospect with regard to the planetary geodesy，the planetary gravity field，planetary physics，the planetary dynamics and the national defense，and the construction for the national economy and the social benefits.

Keywords

deep space satellite gravity mission / CHAMP / GRACE / GOCE / GRACE Follow-On / GRAIL