Open AccessOverview of the LARES Mission: orbit, error analysis and technological aspects
Author(s) -
Ignazio Ciufolini,
Antonio Paolozzi,
Claudio Paris
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/354/1/012002
Subject(s) - satellite , aerospace engineering , launched , gravitational field , geodesy , orbit (dynamics) , vega , remote sensing , aeronautics , lunar orbit , gravity of earth , computer science , physics , engineering , geology , astronomy , spacecraft , electrical engineering
LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite), is an Italian Space Agency (ASI) missionto be launched beginning of 2012 with the new European launch vehicle, VEGA; the launchopportunity was provided by the European Space Agency (ESA). LARES is a laser rangedsatellite; it will be launched into a nearly circular orbit, with an altitude of 1450 km andan inclination of 69.5 degrees. The goal of the mission is the measurement of the Lense-Thirring effect with an uncertainty of few percent; such a small uncertainty will be achievedusing LARES data together with data from the LAGEOS I (NASA) and LAGEOS II (NASAand ASI) satellites, and because GRACE mission (NASA-CSR and DLR-GFZ) is improvingEarth’s gravity field models. This paper describes LARES experiment along with the principalerror sources affecting the measurement. Furthermore, some engineering aspects of the mission,in particular the structure and materials of the satellite (designed in order to minimize thenon-gravitational perturbations), are described