Assessing antenna field of view and receiver clocks of COSMIC and GRACE satellites: lessons for COSMIC-2

We provide suggestions for the approved COSMIC-2 satellite mission regarding the field of view (FOV) and the clock stability of its future GNSS receiver based on numerical analyses using COSMIC GPS data. While the GRACE GPS receiver is mounted on the zenith direction, the precise orbit determination (POD) antennas of COSMIC are not. The COSMIC antenna design results in a narrow FOV and a reduction in the number of GPS observations. To strengthen the GPS geometry, GPS data from two POD antennas of COSMIC are used to estimate its orbits. The phase residuals of COSMIC are at the centimeter level, compared to the millimeter level of GRACE. The receiver clock corrections of COSMIC and GRACE are at the microsecond and nanosecond levels, respectively. The clock spectra of COSMIC at the frequencies of 0–0.005 Hz contain significant powers, indicating potential systematic errors in its clock corrections. The clock stability, expressed by the Allan deviation, of COSMIC ranges from 10−9 to 10−11 over 1 to 104 s, compared to 10−12 to 10−14 for GRACE. Compared to USO-based clock of GRACE, the clock of COSMIC is degraded in its stability and is linked to the reduction of GPS data quality. Lessons for improvement of COSMIC-2 over COSMIC in FOV and receiver clock stability are given.