Project description
Unified three pillars of geodesy in future TRF realisations
The Terrestrial Reference Frames (TRFs) offer a set of coordinates of some points on the Earth’s surface and all satellite orbits near Earth. Variations in the Earth’s form, rotation and gravity field are called the ‘three pillars’ of geodesy and provide the conceptual and observational foundation for the TRFs. Today, only two of the three pillars are combined and connected by co-location sites on the Earth’s surface and by standard Earth orientation parameters, the third only contributing to the TRF determination. The EU-funded SPACE TIE project will prepare for the unification of the three pillars of geodesy in future TRF realisations using satellite geodetic techniques. SPACE TIE envisages the assessment of the geometric and gravimetric impact of mass transport in the atmosphere, oceans and polar regions.
Objective
"Terrestrial Reference Frames (TRFs) are the basis to which all positions on the Earth’s surface and all satellite orbits in the near Earth space have to refer to. The changes in the Earth's shape, rotation, and gravity field, the so-called ""three pillars"" of geodesy, provide the conceptual and observational basis for the TRFs. For today’s TRF realizations, four space geodetic techniques are combined and linked by co-location sites on the Earth’s surface (“Earth’s shape”) and by common Earth orientation parameters (“Earth rotation”). The third pillar (“Earth’s gravity field”) is today only contributing to the TRF determination via its associated center-of-mass. In SPACE TIE we will pave the way to unify the “three pillars” of Geodesy in future TRF realizations. We propose to use two satellite geodetic techniques, namely Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), to connect them by co-location sites in space. These so-called space ties shall be realized on satellites of the currently existing space infrastructure, as well as on satellites due for launch in the near future. This includes the Medium Earth Orbits (MEO) of the GNSS satellites and, in particular, all satellites in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) with GNSS and SLR co-located on-board. To maximize the sensitivity to the Earth’s gravity field, the ultra-precise inter-satellite ranging between LEO satellites of dedicated gravity missions shall be added as a third satellite geodetic technique. One and the same state-of-the-art space geodetic software package will be used to ensure that standards, background models, and processing strategies are consistently applied across all co-location satellites and measurement techniques. The outcome of SPACE TIE will allow it to assess the geometric and gravimetric impact of mass transport in the atmosphere, oceans, and ice caps in a most consistent way to globally quantify the mass exchange between the different components of the system Earth."
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- social sciencessocial geographytransportnavigation systemssatellite navigation systemglobal navigation satellite system
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantHost institution
3012 Bern
Switzerland