Improvement in the Recovery Accuracy of the Lunar Gravity Field Based on the Future Moon-ILRS Spacecraft Gravity Mission

This study mostly concentrates on the sensitivity analysis regarding the future dedicated Moon-ILRS spacecraft gravity mission. Firstly, the new single and combined analytical error models for the cumulative lunar geoid height impacted by the major error sources comprising the inter-spacecraft range-rate of the interferometric laser ranging system (ILRS), the spacecraft orbital position tracked by the deep space network (DSN) and the non-conservative force of the drag-free control system (DFCS) are developed on the basis of the spacecraft-to-spacecraft tracking in the low–low mode (SST-LL) from the future twin Moon-ILRS spacecraft. Secondly, the correctness of the new single and combined analytical error models is proved according to the compliance of the cumulative lunar geoid height errors among the inter-spacecraft range-rate, orbital position and non-conservative force. Finally, in comparison with the past gravity recovery and interior laboratory (GRAIL) program, the preferred design for the future Moon-ILRS mission is achieved in this paper. We recommend that the future twin Moon-ILRS formation-flying spacecraft had better adopt the new-type space-borne instruments involving the ILRS and DFCS. We demonstrate the compatible accuracy indexes of the key sensors (e.g., 10−9 m/s in the inter-spacecraft range-rate, 1 m in the orbital position and 3 × 10−13 m/s2 in the non-conservative force) and the optimal orbital parameters (e.g., 25-km orbital altitude, 100-km inter-spacecraft range and 1-s sampling interval) in the future Moon-ILRS twin-spacecraft mission.