Results from a GRACE/GRACE-FO attitude reconstruction Kalman filter

This paper outlines JPL’s V03 GRACE attitude processing strategy, characterizes the accelerometer angular measurement error profile, analyzes impact upon GRACE time-varying gravity field products as part of a complete mission reprocessing campaign, and presents implications for linear acceleration measurements. A Kalman filter-based strategy fuses star camera and angular acceleration measurements to reconstruct spacecraft attitude with reduced high-frequency noise and fewer gaps and corrects a pair of processing errors. Running data from tailored accelerometer characterization maneuvers in 2017, K-band calibration maneuvers in 2003, and nominal mission operations through our Kalman filter, estimated aliasing factors from linear to angular acceleration account for multiple forms of observed noise. During most of the mission, V03 produced very limited gains in our gravity field products, but during early and late mission high error regimes the reduction in high-frequency attitude noise substantially damped systematic gravity solution effects (latitudinal bands) and noise (stripes).