Detection of crustal motion using spaceborne laser ranging systems

Abstract

The spaceborne laser ranging (or lasering) system provides a method of precise positioning of a large number of points on the earth's surface in a short period of time. That is, a measure of the relative location of geodetic markers from a space platform can maintain horizontal and vertical control to 2 to 5 cm. At this level of control, small earth surface crustal motions should be detectable. Development of a model for the strain field can be constructed. Furthermore, the spaceborne lasering system can survey an area in a very short period of time (one to two weeks) and resurvey the area as required. System design parameters are now being established by NASA for a possible test flight aboard the Shuttle in 1982. These include design specifications of economical corner cubes for ground retroreflectors coupled with the evolution of engineering model to flight model development. If the experiment of the Shuttle proves to be successful, it is hoped to put the laser in a free flight satellite. This paper presents the results of a simulated analysis for this latter case. The system is conceived as an orbiting ranging device with a ground base grid of reflectors or transponders (spacing 10 to 30 km), which are projected to be of low cost (maintenance-free and unattended) and which will permit the saturation of a local area to obtain data useful to monitor crustal movements. The test network includes 75 stations with roughly half of them on either side of the San Andreas fault zone. Critical study comparatively evaluates various observational schemes and statistically analyzed crustal motion recovery. The study considers laser radar as the main ranging system pending final selection from many possible candidates. The satellite orbit is inclined at 110° and slightly eccentric (e=0.04) with orbital altitudes varying from 370 km to 930 km. The results indicate that the geometric mode (simultaneous ranging) with a minimum of five grid and three distant (fundamental) stations and mixed ranging to satellite and airplane seems to be most promising. The fundamental stations are distinguished from the grid station in their location and this location should be “distant” enough from the area of crustal movement so that they can be considered stationary over the time span of the motion involved.