Determination of Earth's Static Gravity Field Using Quantum Gravity Satellites at Very Low Earth Orbit
- 1The National Gravitation Laboratory, MOE Key Laboratory of Fundamental Physical Quantities Measurement, and School of Physics Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan People's Republic of China
- 2Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology Shanghai China
- 3Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering Shanghai China
Abstract
Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellite platforms and quantum‐optical sensing technologies may provide new observation approaches for improving Earth's static gravity field models. This study conceptually assesses their potential contribution through a two‐tier closed‐loop simulation framework. Under idealized conditions considering only instrumental observation noise, with the cold atom interferometry (CAI) gradiometer modeled using joint three‐axis observations of Vxx, Vyy and Vzz at 180 km altitude and a noise level of 1mE/Hz, the VLEO‐borne CAI gradiometer concept yields overall recovery errors lower than those of the selected GOCE‐derived reference models. For the GRACE‐like scheme based on space‐to‐space optical‐clock observations of gravitational potential differences, a frequency accuracy of 10−20 or better is required to outperform the GRACE‐derived reference model. In addition, the idealized simulations indicate that lowering the orbital altitude and adopting a Bender‐like dual‐orbit configuration can reduce recovery errors. When attitude errors (0.8mE/Hz) and aliasing errors from high‐frequency time‐variable signals are introduced, along with a single‐axis Vzz observation scheme at 198 km altitude, the VLEO‐borne CAI gradiometer still yields recovery errors overall lower than those of GOCE‐derived references up to degree 300, although no clear improvement in spatial resolution is observed.
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BibTeX
@article{chen2026determination,
title = {{Determination of Earth's Static Gravity Field Using Quantum Gravity Satellites at Very Low Earth Orbit}},
author = {Wenming Chen and Hao Zhou and Yanbin Zhao and Zhu Zhu and Shuyun Zheng and Zhicai Luo and Zebing Zhou},
journal = {Earth and Space Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1029/2026ea005368},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026ea005368},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Determination of Earth's Static Gravity Field Using Quantum Gravity Satellites at Very Low Earth Orbit
AU - Wenming Chen
AU - Hao Zhou
AU - Yanbin Zhao
AU - Zhu Zhu
AU - Shuyun Zheng
AU - Zhicai Luo
AU - Zebing Zhou
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Earth and Space Science
DO - 10.1029/2026ea005368
UR - https://doi.org/10.1029/2026ea005368
AB - Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellite platforms and quantum‐optical sensing technologies may provide new observation approaches for improving Earth's static gravity field models. This study conceptually assesses their potential contribution through a two‐tier closed‐loop simulation framework. Under idealized conditions considering only instrumental observation noise, with the cold atom interferometry (CAI) gradiometer modeled using joint three‐axis observations of Vxx, Vyy and Vzz at 180 km altitude and a noise level of 1mE/Hz, the VLEO‐borne CAI gradiometer concept yields overall recovery errors lower than those of the selected GOCE‐derived reference models. For the GRACE‐like scheme based on space‐to‐space optical‐clock observations of gravitational potential differences, a frequency accuracy of 10−20 or better is required to outperform the GRACE‐derived reference model. In addition, the idealized simulations indicate that lowering the orbital altitude and adopting a Bender‐like dual‐orbit configuration can reduce recovery errors. When attitude errors (0.8mE/Hz) and aliasing errors from high‐frequency time‐variable signals are introduced, along with a single‐axis Vzz observation scheme at 198 km altitude, the VLEO‐borne CAI gradiometer still yields recovery errors overall lower than those of GOCE‐derived references up to degree 300, although no clear improvement in spatial resolution is observed.
SN - 2333-5084
ER -