Absolute Aero Quantengravimetrie (AeroQGrav) - Advancing airborne gravimetry with quantum technology

Kurzfassung

Gravimetry is becoming increasingly important in various fields of geodesy and the geosciences. It can be used to quantify climate change by measuring changes in mass distribution and can assist in the search for raw material deposits. Flight gravimetry closes the gap between ground-based gravimetry in small-scale networks and global gravity field determination using satellite gravimetry. Currently, flight gravimetry mainly uses relative gravimeters, but these often have a high drift and limited resolution. In addition, intrinsic filtering is necessary, which leads to phase shift errors. These problems can be mostly reduced or eliminated with quantum gravimeters. So far, the use of quantum gravimeters, including commercially available instruments, has been predominantly static in analogy to classical absolute and superconducting gravimeters. Experiments have already demonstrated their use on slowly and uniformly moving platforms (sea gravimetry) and in airplanes. With the application in flight gravimetry, numerous applications come into reach. This project therefore aims to develop a quantum gravimeter prototype for use in airplanes. However, the rapid and small changes in the motion of the aircraft superimpose the sought-after gravitational acceleration. Therefore, this must be reconstructed as accurately as possible, which is to be realized in the current project through multiple sensor data fusion enabling the gravitational acceleration to be filtered out. The project presented aims at the development and operation of an absolute quantum optical sensor on moving platforms for flight gravimetry. The focus here is on the geodetic components and initial simulation results.