GENESIS: co-location of geodetic techniques in space
Journal article, 2023
Improving and homogenizing time and space reference systems on Earth and, more specifically, realizing the Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) with an accuracy of 1 mm and a long-term stability of 0.1 mm/year are relevant for many scientific and societal endeavors. The knowledge of the TRF is fundamental for Earth and navigation sciences. For instance, quantifying sea level change strongly depends on an accurate determination of the geocenter motion but also of the positions of continental and island reference stations, such as those located at tide gauges, as well as the ground stations of tracking networks. Also, numerous applications in geophysics require absolute millimeter precision from the reference frame, as for example monitoring tectonic motion or crustal deformation, contributing to a better understanding of natural hazards. The TRF accuracy to be achieved represents the consensus of various authorities, including the International Association of Geodesy (IAG), which has enunciated geodesy requirements for Earth sciences. Moreover, the United Nations Resolution 69/266 states that the full societal benefits in developing satellite missions for positioning and Remote Sensing of the Earth are realized only if they are referenced to a common global geodetic reference frame at the national, regional and global levels. Today we are still far from these ambitious accuracy and stability goals for the realization of the TRF. However, a combination and co-location of all four space geodetic techniques on one satellite platform can significantly contribute to achieving these goals. This is the purpose of the GENESIS mission, a component of the FutureNAV program of the European Space Agency. The GENESIS platform will be a dynamic space geodetic observatory carrying all the geodetic instruments referenced to one another through carefully calibrated space ties. The co-location of the techniques in space will solve the inconsistencies and biases between the different geodetic techniques in order to reach the TRF accuracy and stability goals endorsed by the various international authorities and the scientific community. The purpose of this paper is to review the state-of-the-art and explain the benefits of the GENESIS mission in Earth sciences, navigation sciences and metrology. This paper has been written and supported by a large community of scientists from many countries and working in several different fields of science, ranging from geophysics and geodesy to time and frequency metrology, navigation and positioning. As it is explained throughout this paper, there is a very high scientific consensus that the GENESIS mission would deliver exemplary science and societal benefits across a multidisciplinary range of Navigation and Earth sciences applications, constituting a global infrastructure that is internationally agreed to be strongly desirable. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
Geodesy
Navigation
Reference systems
Metrology
Geophysics
Positioning
GENESIS satellite
Space geodetic techniques
Author
Pacôme Delva
Systèmes de Référence Temps-Espace
Zuheir Altamimi
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Alejandro Blazquez
Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Mathis Blossfeld
Technical University of Munich
Johannes Böhm
Vienna University of Technology
Pascal Bonnefond
Systèmes de Référence Temps-Espace
Jean Paul Boy
Institut Terre et Environnement de Strasbourg (ITES)
Sean Bruinsma
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
Grzegorz Bury
Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences
Miltiadis Chatzinikos
Systèmes de Référence Temps-Espace
Alexandre Couhert
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
C. Courde
Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur
R. Dach
University of Bern
Véronique Dehant
Royal Observatory of Belgium
Simone Dell’Agnello
National Institute for Nuclear Physics
Gunnar Elgered
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Werner Enderle
European Space Operations Centre
Pierre Exertier
Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
Susanne Glaser
German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Rüdiger Haas
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Onsala Space Observatory
Wen Huang
German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Urs Hugentobler
Technical University of Munich
Adrian Jäggi
University of Bern
Ozgur Karatekin
Royal Observatory of Belgium
Frank G. Lemoine
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Christophe Le Poncin-Lafitte
Systèmes de Référence Temps-Espace
Susanne Lunz
German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Benjamin Männel
German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Flavien Mercier
Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Laurent Métivier
Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
Benoît Meyssignac
Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Jürgen Müller
University of Hanover
Axel Nothnagel
Vienna University of Technology
Felix Perosanz
Géosciences Environnement Toulouse
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Roelof Rietbroek
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation – ITC
Markus Rothacher
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH)
Harald Schuh
German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
Hakan Sert
Royal Observatory of Belgium
Krzysztof Sosnica
Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences
Paride Testani
HE Space Operations GmbH
Javier Ventura-Traveset
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES)
Gilles Wautelet
University of Liège
Radoslaw Zajdel
Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences
Earth, Planets and Space
1343-8832 (ISSN) 1880-5981 (eISSN)
Vol. 75 1 5Subject Categories
Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Geophysics
DOI
10.1186/s40623-022-01752-w