Multimission raw data center for GRACE

Abstract

Abstract By means of the small satellite mission GRACE, a joint project between NASA and DLR, the provision of the global high-resolution models of the Earth’s gravity field for a period of up to 5 years with unprecedented accuracy is aimed. A 7 secondary science objective of the GRACE mission is to provide several hundred globally distributed profiles each day of excess delay or bending angle of the GPS measurements due to the ionosphere and atmosphere using limb sounding. 9 DLR is responsible for the mission control of this pair of satellites as well as for data reception, archiving and distribution. The Raw Data Center located in Neustrelitz has to process, archive and distribute the data to the mission control center (MOS) 11 and to the scientific centers at University of Texas and GFZ Potsdam under not negligible requirements relating to reliability and timeliness. To reach this objectives in a cost-effective manner a DLR-developed data and information management system 13 (DIMS) is brought into action, which accompanies the whole product life cycle incl. robot archiving in a mission independent way. So this system is in use for a multitude of small satellite missions in parallel. This contribution will give a small overview 15 of the GRACE mission and will explain more in detail the raw data center and its results after the first year of operation. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.