Simulation and Analysis of Short-Period Time-Varying Gravity Field Recovery Using a Very Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation

LIU Youjian; LI Jiancheng; XU Xinyu; WEI Hui; ZHAO Yongqi

doi:10.13203/j.whugis20240047

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Simulation and Analysis of Short-Period Time-Varying Gravity Field Recovery Using a Very Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation

Geodesy and Survey Engineering | 更新时间：2026-11-05

- Simulation and Analysis of Short-Period Time-Varying Gravity Field Recovery Using a Very Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation
- Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University Vol. 51, Issue 2, Pages: 286-295(2026)
- 作者机构：
  
  1.武汉大学测绘学院,湖北武汉,430079
  2.湖北珞珈实验室,湖北武汉,430079
  3.武汉大学地球空间环境与大地测量教育部重点实验室,湖北武汉,430079
- 作者简介：
- 基金信息：
- DOI：10.13203/j.whugis20240047
  CLC： P223;P228
- Received：20 March 2024，
  
  Published：05 February 2026
- 稿件说明：
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刘有建,李建成,徐新禹，等.超低轨卫星星座恢复短周期时变重力场的模拟分析[J].武汉大学学报（信息科学版）,2026,51(2):286-295.

LIU Youjian,LI Jiancheng,XU Xinyu,et al.Simulation and Analysis of Short-Period Time-Varying Gravity Field Recovery Using a Very Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation[J].Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University,2026,51(2):286-295.
刘有建,李建成,徐新禹，等.超低轨卫星星座恢复短周期时变重力场的模拟分析[J].武汉大学学报（信息科学版）,2026,51(2):286-295. DOI：10.13203/j.whugis20240047

LIU Youjian,LI Jiancheng,XU Xinyu,et al.Simulation and Analysis of Short-Period Time-Varying Gravity Field Recovery Using a Very Low Earth Orbit Satellite Constellation[J].Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University,2026,51(2):286-295. DOI：10.13203/j.whugis20240047

摘要

相比于下一代重力卫星任务计划采用的Bender星座，以通导遥为主要目标的超低轨（very low Earth orbit

VLEO）卫星星座能够在短时间内进行大规模地面覆盖，提高了对时变重力场的时空采样率，有望降低混频效应，提升对重力场时变信号的探测能力。模拟了Bender星座和250 km高度处由300颗卫星组成的VLEO卫星星座的观测数据，开展了时变重力场信号恢复性能的闭环仿真模拟实验。结果表明：在不考虑观测量噪声时，相比于Bender星座，VLEO卫星星座可有效降低混频效应对时变重力场建模的影响；对于7 d时变重力场恢复结果，在VLEO卫星星座卫星轨道精度为1 cm、Bender星座星间测速精度为10 nm/s，并考虑混频误差的情况下，VLEO卫星星座可恢复15阶以内的有效信号（信噪比达到1），且8阶以内的时变重力场恢复结果略优于Bender星座；当VLEO卫星轨道精度在1~10 cm时，在Bender星座的基础上引入VLEO卫星星座进行联合解算，可有效降低解算结果的混频效应和南北条带误差，提升短周期时变重力场的恢复性能。

Abstract

Objectives

The accurate determination of the Earth's time-varying gravity field is fundamental to quantifying mass transport processes linked to the global water cycle and climate change. While dedicated missions like the gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) and its successor GRACE follow-on have been groundbreaking

their resolution and temporal sampling are limited by the two-satellite architecture. The proposed next-generation gravity mission

typically employing a Bender-type dual-pair constellation

aims to address these limitations. Concurrently

the emergence of massive commercial satellite networks in very low Earth orbit (VLEO)

designed for telecommunications or remote sensing

presents a novel and complementary opportunity. We investigate the geodetic potential of such a VLEO satellite constellation. Its primary advantage lies not in specialized instrumentation

but in its revolutionary spatial and temporal sampling capability

achieved through a large number of satellites. We hypothesize that this dense sampling can significantly mitigate aliasing errors and enhance the reliability of short-period signal recovery.

Methods

To quantitatively assess this hypothesis

we conduct a comprehensive set of closed-loop numerical simulation experiments. We simulate the gravitational observations from two core scenarios: A massive VLEO satellite constellation comprising 300 satellites at a 250 km altitude

and a reference Bender-type constellation with state-of-the-art laser interferometry. Using the short-arc integral method

we compare their performance in recovering a 7 d time-varying gravity field under various controlled error conditions. Our analysis specifically investigates the impact of instrumental noise levels

orbital configuration

and most importantly

the aliasing effect on the solution quality.

Results

The comprehensive simulations demonstrate that under an ideal noise-free environment where instrumental errors and atmospheric disturbances are entirely eliminated

the VLEO satellite constellation exhibits remarkable effectiveness in suppressing the aliasing effect during time-varying gravity field modeling. This capability surpasses the performance of the traditional Bender-type dual-pair constellation

which is constrained by its limited spatial sampling density. Under conditions involving multiple sources of error

particularly with VLEO orbit determination accuracy constrained to 1 cm and Bender inter‑satellite range‑rate accuracy limited to 10 nm/s

the VLEO satellite constellation is capable of accurately reconstructing time‑varying gravity signals up to degree and order 15. Notably

for the same recovery period

the VLEO constellation's performance is marginally superior to the Bender constellation up to degree and order 8

indicating its enhanced sensitivity to large-scale gravity signals. A further breakthrough emerges in a hybrid scenario where the Bender constellation is integrated with a VLEO satellite constellation featuring orbit determination accuracy ranging between 1⁃10 cm. This combined approach leverages the complementary strengths of both systems: the high-precision inter-satellite ranging of the Bender constellation and the dense spatial sampling of the VLEO satellite constellation. The synergy between these configurations results in a significant improvement in overall recovery performance. This combination synergistically reduces the aliasing errors and effectively suppresses the north-south striping patterns

which are systematic errors plaguing current gravity solutions

thereby culminating in a superior overall recovery performance for the short-period time-varying gravity field.

Conclusions

The comparative results confirm that a dense VLEO satellite constellation can intrinsically reduce aliasing errors through enhanced spatiotemporal sampling. Its incorporation

either as a standalone system or in conjunction with a dedicated gravity mission like the Bender constellation

provides a substantial advancement in the accuracy of short-period time-varying gravity field recovery.

关键词

Keywords

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