In-Orbit Performance of the GRACE Follow-on Laser Ranging Interferometer.

The Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI) instrument on the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-On mission has provided the first laser interferometric range measurements between remote spacecraft, separated by approximately 220 km. Autonomous controls that lock the laser frequency to a cavity reference and establish the 5 degrees of freedom two-way laser link between remote spacecraft succeeded on the first attempt. Active beam pointing based on differential wave front sensing compensates spacecraft attitude fluctuations. The LRI has operated continuously without breaks in phase tracking for more than 50 days, and has shown biased range measurements similar to the primary ranging instrument based on microwaves, but with much less noise at a level of 1  nm/sqrt[Hz] at Fourier frequencies above 100 mHz.

Martin Gohlke | Reinhold Flatscher | Frank Heine | Frank Flechtner | M. J. Burke | Karsten Danzmann | Claus Braxmaier | Michelle Stephens | Joseph Trinh | Alexander Koch | Andreas Eckardt | William Klipstein | Kirk McKenzie | Steve Windisch | Robert Spero | Thomas Leikert | Gretchen Reavis | Daniel Shaddock | Serge Dubovitsky | Bernd Zender | Anton Lebeda | Gerhard Heinzel | Christoph Mahrdt | Mark Herding | Jerome Hauden | Lynette Lobmeyer | Brian Bachman Okihiro | Robert Eliot Spero | Kameron Larsen | Rabi T. Wang | Klaus Abich | M. A. Davis | Nicolas Grossard | Andrew Sutton | Joshua A. Ravich | Gunnar Stede | Benjamin Sheard | Daniel Schütze | Vitali Müller | Christoph Seiter | Kai Voss | Jens Reiche | Brent Ware | Henry Wegener | Kolja Nicklaus | Josep Sanjuan | Philipp Hager | Alexander Abramovici | Christian Dahl | Andreas Baatzsch | D. Shaddock | K. Danzmann | C. Bogan | K. Nicklaus | J. Dickson | S. Dubovitsky | W. Klipstein | B. Ware | C. Woodruff | C. Braxmaier | W. Folkner | G. Heinzel | F. Flechtner | C. Liebe | G. F. Barranco | A. Abramovici | D. Nguyen | B. Zender | B. Sheard | N. Grossard | K. Dahl | J. Reiche | G. Spiers | M. Stephens | M. Zimmermann | Martin S. Gilbert | F. Heine | G. de Vine | D. Barr | A. Eckardt | William M. Folkner | C. Mahrdt | M. Gohlke | J. Sanjuan | J. Hauden | R. Flatscher | D. Schütze | G. Stede | V. Müller | F. Gilles | M. Herding | Marina Kaufer | Katrin Dahl | K. C. Clark | Glenn de Vine | Marcus Zimmermann | Gary Spiers | Bengie Amparan | Brian Bachman Okihiro | David C. Barr | Maxime P. Bize | Christina Bogan | Michael J. Burke | Ken C. Clark | Mike A. Davis | Jeffrey A. Dickson | Thomas Ester | Germán Fernández Barranco | Samuel Francis | Martin S. Gilbert | Frank Gilles | Burghardt Guenther | Martin Hinz | James Howell | Mark Katsumura | Micah Kruger | Arnold Lebeda | Carl Christian Liebe | Jehhal Liu | Thomas Mangoldt | Malte Misfeldt | Phillip R. Morton | Alexander T. Murray | Don J. Nguyen | Robert Pierce | Joshua A. Ravich | Michael Sileo | Duo Wang | Rabi T. Wang | Christopher Woodruff | P. Hager | Samuel P. Francis | A. Baatzsch | C. Dahl | H. Wegener | J. Trinh | K. Voss | Marina Kaufer | K. McKenzie | Alexander Koch | Malte Misfeldt | K. Abich | L. Lobmeyer | Duo Wang | T. Ester | A. Sutton | T. Leikert | Kameron Larsen | A. Lebeda | Michael A. Sileo | T. Mangoldt | Bengie Amparan | Maxime P. Bize | B. Guenther | M. Hinz | James M. Howell | Mark Katsumura | Micah Kruger | Arnold Lebeda | Jehhal Liu | Phil Morton | Alex Murray | R. Pierce | G. Reavis | Christoph Seiter | Steve Windisch

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