Test environments for the GRACE follow-on laser ranging interferometer

Abstract

In the year 2017 a follow-on mission to the very successful joint German/US mission GRACE (Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment) will be launched. As of this day the two GRACE satellites have successfully been mapping the spatial and temporal varitations of the gravitational �eld of the Earth by satellite-to-satellite tracking for over a decade. The main science instrument on GRACE and its successor mission GRACE Follow-On which is used to measure the inter-satellite distance changes is a microwave link sensor. However, an additional instrument, the laser ranging interferometer (LRI), will be implemented into the architecture of the GRACE Follow-On satellites as a technology demonstrator. In this paper we will give a brief overview of a �ber-based test environment which is currently used during the assembly, integration and test of the LRI ight hardware.