GOCE Accelerometer Measurements Revisited
Bergé, Joël; Christophe, Bruno; Foulon, Bernard
ONERA, The French Aerospace Lab, FRANCE

The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) has provided measurements of the geoid with unprecedented accuracy. However, despite the mission’s success, the estimated noise is bigger than expected. This issue has puzzled the GOCE team for three years, and yet remains unexplained. I will show the work performed by ONERA to explore possible sources of noise from the gradiometer electronics and data processing. I will then discuss how the experience gained from the four years in orbit of the GOCE accelerometers will allow us to estimate more accurately the performance of the accelerometers and the improvements which can be done for future gravity missions like the Next Generation Gravity Mission.