The nondominated sorting genetic algorithm III (NSGA-III) is used to design nonsymmetric satellite constellations to observe large-scale high-frequency gravity variations that would serve as complementary systems to other dedicated gravity field mapping missions such as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On missions. The functionality of the NSGA-III method is validated by reproducing optimal surface-coverage satellite constellations from the literature. Then, NSGA-III is used to generate nondominated constellations tuned to detect short-term long-wavelength gravity field variations. The constellations are used to generate subweekly gravity field solutions from clock frequency comparison measurements. The effectiveness of NSGA-III for optimizing nonsymmetric constellations was demonstrated because the constellations obtained from NSGA-III were consistently superior in performance than traditional symmetric constellations. Furthermore, the results showed that the time-varying signals of interest (that is, gravity coefficients through the spherical harmonic degree and order of seven at daily intervals) can be unambiguously resolved by assuming an optical clock with a fractional frequency uncertainty representative of current technology. The ability to monitor these short-term long-wavelength signals on a global scale would observe a spectrum of the gravity field inherently undetectable by GRACE-like missions, and it would provide new insight to the understanding of global mass redistribution processes.
Designing Satellite Constellations to Observe Earth’s Time-Varying Gravity from Clock Frequency Comparisons
Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets ; 60 , 3 ; 848-858
2023-04-24
11 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Using Satellite Constellations for Improved Determination of Earth's Time-Variable Gravity
Online Contents | 2011
|Using Satellite Constellations for Improved Determination of Earth's Time-Variable Gravity
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2011
|Designing good partial coverage satellite constellations
NTRS | 1992
|Designing good partial coverage satellite constellations
AIAA | 1990
|