Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking Data
The Tianwen-1 (TW1) mission, which successfully entered Mars's orbit in 2021, provides a valuable data set for enhancing the understanding of Mars’s gravity field. The highly elliptical near-polar orbit of the TW1 orbiter offers unique sensitivity to long-wavelength gravity signals, complementi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada938 |
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| author | Shangbiao Sun Jianguo Yan Shanhong Liu Chongyang Wang Denggao Qiu Jean-Pierre Barriot |
| author_facet | Shangbiao Sun Jianguo Yan Shanhong Liu Chongyang Wang Denggao Qiu Jean-Pierre Barriot |
| author_sort | Shangbiao Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Tianwen-1 (TW1) mission, which successfully entered Mars's orbit in 2021, provides a valuable data set for enhancing the understanding of Mars’s gravity field. The highly elliptical near-polar orbit of the TW1 orbiter offers unique sensitivity to long-wavelength gravity signals, complementing the contributions of low-altitude missions like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). In this study, we used 4 months of TW1 radio tracking data in combination with MRO data to develop a new Mars gravity field model up to degree and order 50. We evaluated the improvement of gravity field determination through power spectrum analysis, gravity anomaly maps, and trajectory precision assessment. The result shows significant improvements in accuracy up to degree and order 30, with an average enhancement of 38% in the zonal harmonic coefficients. There are obvious differences between the two gravity field models in gravity anomaly maps. The range of gravity anomaly errors improves after incorporating TW1 data, with the maximum error decreasing from 53.4 to 46.4 mGal and the average error improving from 8.4 to 7.3 mGal. Additionally, orbit determination experiments confirm that the fused gravity field model enhances trajectory modeling for both MRO and TW1. These findings highlight the scientific value of TW1 tracking data in advancing Mars’s gravity field modeling and provide critical insights for future deep-space missions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-51575fee409e41dca5397697282a7899 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-51575fee409e41dca5397697282a78992025-01-29T07:25:51ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01979222110.3847/1538-4357/ada938Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking DataShangbiao Sun0Jianguo Yan1Shanhong Liu2Chongyang Wang3Denggao Qiu4Jean-Pierre Barriot5State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430079, People’s Republic of China ; jgyan@whu.edu.cnState Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430079, People’s Republic of China ; jgyan@whu.edu.cn; Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Urumqi 830011, People’s Republic of ChinaBeijing Aerospace Control Center , 100094 Beijing, People’s Republic of China; National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Aerospace Flight Dynamics, 100094, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaState Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430079, People’s Republic of China ; jgyan@whu.edu.cnState Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430079, People’s Republic of China ; jgyan@whu.edu.cnState Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430079, People’s Republic of China ; jgyan@whu.edu.cn; Geodesy Observatory of Tahiti, University of French Polynesia , 98702 Fa’aa, TahitiThe Tianwen-1 (TW1) mission, which successfully entered Mars's orbit in 2021, provides a valuable data set for enhancing the understanding of Mars’s gravity field. The highly elliptical near-polar orbit of the TW1 orbiter offers unique sensitivity to long-wavelength gravity signals, complementing the contributions of low-altitude missions like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). In this study, we used 4 months of TW1 radio tracking data in combination with MRO data to develop a new Mars gravity field model up to degree and order 50. We evaluated the improvement of gravity field determination through power spectrum analysis, gravity anomaly maps, and trajectory precision assessment. The result shows significant improvements in accuracy up to degree and order 30, with an average enhancement of 38% in the zonal harmonic coefficients. There are obvious differences between the two gravity field models in gravity anomaly maps. The range of gravity anomaly errors improves after incorporating TW1 data, with the maximum error decreasing from 53.4 to 46.4 mGal and the average error improving from 8.4 to 7.3 mGal. Additionally, orbit determination experiments confirm that the fused gravity field model enhances trajectory modeling for both MRO and TW1. These findings highlight the scientific value of TW1 tracking data in advancing Mars’s gravity field modeling and provide critical insights for future deep-space missions.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada938MarsGravitationOrbit determinationCelestial mechanics |
| spellingShingle | Shangbiao Sun Jianguo Yan Shanhong Liu Chongyang Wang Denggao Qiu Jean-Pierre Barriot Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking Data The Astrophysical Journal Mars Gravitation Orbit determination Celestial mechanics |
| title | Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking Data |
| title_full | Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking Data |
| title_fullStr | Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking Data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking Data |
| title_short | Enhancing Mars Gravity Field Solutions with China’s Tianwen-1 Tracking Data |
| title_sort | enhancing mars gravity field solutions with china s tianwen 1 tracking data |
| topic | Mars Gravitation Orbit determination Celestial mechanics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ada938 |
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