Disturbances from Single Event Upsets in the GRACE Follow-On Laser Ranging Interferometer

TL;DR

This paper investigates radiation-induced single event upsets in the GRACE-FO Laser Ranging Interferometer, demonstrating detection and characterization of 29 SEU events over four years to improve data reliability.

Contribution

It introduces a method for identifying and analyzing SEU events in LRI phase data, enhancing the understanding of measurement disturbances in satellite laser interferometry.

Findings

29 SEU events identified over four years

SEU parameters characterized using template-based fitting

Method improves accuracy of inter-satellite ranging data

Abstract

The Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment - Follow On (GRACE-FO) satellite mission (2018-now) hosts the novel Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI), a technology demonstrator for proving the feasibility of laser interferometry for inter-satellite ranging measurements. The GRACE-FO mission extends the valuable climate data record of changing mass distribution in the system Earth, which was started by the original GRACE mission (2002-2017). The mass distribution can be deduced from observing changes in the distance of two low-earth orbiters employing interferometry of electromagnetic waves in the K-Band for the conventional K-Band Ranging (KBR) and in near-infrared for the novel LRI. This paper identifies possible radiation-induced Single Event Upset (SEU) events in the LRI phase measurement. We simulate the phase data processing within the Laser Ranging Processor (LRP) and use a template-based fitting approach to determine the parameters of the SEU and subtract the events from the ranging data. Over four years of LRI data, 29 of such events were identified and characterized.