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The US Space Agency has activated the LRI aboard the GRACE Follow-On satellites. The mission, a collaboration between NASA and the German Geoscience Research Center, was launched in May. (19459013) NASA / JPL-Caltech )
NASA has powered up the laser interferometer or LRI instrument aboard the two recently launched climate monitoring satellites Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On or GRACE-FO. 19659003] The satellites were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 22 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Working as planned
The LRI, which was a technological demonstration, has already makes its first measurements with GRACE-FO's main microwave measuring instrument. Data from both instruments reveal that they agree as expected
The first light operation of LRI was conducted over a two-day period. On June 13th, GRACE-FO twin satellites began scanning their spiral lasers to search for each other.
Each of the two satellites will be able to detect the laser signal from the other but this is not easy exploit. Each of the lasers has a power equivalent to about four laser pointers and must be detected from an average of 137 miles.
Despite the ultra-precise assembly of satellites, NASA said that this does not sufficiently guarantee that the laser each spacecraft is aligned well enough to hit the other spacecraft.
"On each satellite there are one-piece-sized holes through which the laser must be accurately pointed at the holes of the other satellite for more than 200 kilometers. [137 miles] while the two spacecraft revolve around the Earth at 27,000 kilometers [16,000 miles per hour]"says Gerhard Heinzel, Max Planck Institute's chief instrument officer. "It's really amazing."
It is for this reason that the first time the LRI is turned on, the LRI components on each of the satellites must scan to send signals and capture each other.
Downlink data revealed that each of the satellites could have seen several lightning flashes during spiral sweeps, indicating that both LRI instruments were receiving light from the opposite spacecraft and were operating as expected . 19659003] "We are trying something that is very difficult – the first demonstration of laser interferometry in the space between satellites," Heinzel said. "But it's very satisfying to solve a problem and find something that works."
Mission GRACE-FO
The mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Center for Geoscience, will track the evolution of gravity on the GRACE-FO satellites. This will provide the data needed to help scientists better understand the thinning of ice caps, sea level rise, phenomena commonly associated with climate change and the flow of underground magma.
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