Thu Oct 08, F. Flechtner
• Sorted by Date • Sorted by Last Name of First Author •
Qing, Tiantian, Zhou, Hao, Li, Yaozong, Zheng, Shuyun, Xia, Mingyang, Luo, Zhicai, and Zhou, Zebing, 2026. A novel three–observation–link satellite formation for enhanced temporal gravity field recovery. Geophysical Journal International, 247(1):ggag327, doi:10.1093/gji/ggag327.
• from the NASA Astrophysics Data System • by the DOI System •
@ARTICLE{2026GeoJI.247..327Q,
author = {{Qing}, Tiantian and {Zhou}, Hao and {Li}, Yaozong and {Zheng}, Shuyun and {Xia}, Mingyang and {Luo}, Zhicai and {Zhou}, Zebing},
title = "{A novel three-observation-link satellite formation for enhanced temporal gravity field recovery}",
journal = {Geophysical Journal International},
keywords = {Satellite geodesy, Satellite gravity, Time variable gravity},
year = 2026,
month = oct,
volume = {247},
number = {1},
eid = {ggag327},
pages = {ggag327},
abstract = "{Satellite formation configuration plays a crucial role in formulating
the next generation gravity mission aiming at improving the
accuracy and spatiotemporal resolution of Earth's gravity field
modelling. For the proposed GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate
Experiment)-Pendulum (GRACE-P) formation, technical challenges
and limited accuracy gains from the third observation link led
to the adoption of only two baselines, without incorporating the
third link perpendicular to the GRACE-type baseline, resulting
in potential limitations in modelling accuracy. With future
technological advancements overcoming these constraints, this
study first proposes a complete triangular GRACE-Pendulum-full
(GRACE-PF) formation, which includes the omitted third link, to
explore the upper limit of accuracy achievable with this
formation geometry. Building on this, we further introduce a
novel satellite formation, namely the Three-Observation-Link
(Three-OL) formation, inspired by the Chinese TianQin
gravitational wave detection project. While geometrically
similar to GRACE-PF, Three-OL does not include a GRACE-type
baseline. To systematically evaluate the performance of these
formations, a closed-loop simulation experiment was conducted,
followed by a comparative analysis of GRACE-P, GRACE-PF and
Three-OL formations in the spectral-spatial domain.
Specifically, spatial-domain results show that GRACE-PF
outperforms GRACE-P by 28.7 per cent globally, confirming the
accuracy contribution of the third link. Three-OL exhibits
superior performance to GRACE-PF, with higher accuracy for mid-
high degree signals in the spectral domain, and an 11.3 per cent
accuracy improvement over land areas in the spatial domain.
Furthermore, compared with the mainstream Bender and GRACE
formations, Three-OL reduces the residual RMS over land areas by
28.4 and 75.9 per cent, respectively, while also demonstrating
improved capability for recovering submonthly gravity signals.
In summary, this study reveals the accuracy potential of the
complete GRACE-P configuration and proposes a novel formation
capable of supporting high-precision temporal gravity field
modelling. This work provides a feasible and efficient formation
design for gravity satellite missions dedicated to Earth's
gravity field detection.}",
doi = {10.1093/gji/ggag327},
adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2026GeoJI.247..327Q},
adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}
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