Geodesy refers to measurement of the shape, orientation, and gravitational field of the Earth.New technologies have as objective to develop and improve the design of compact micro‑fabricated optomechanical accelerometers for use in future GRACE‑like mass change missions to a technology readiness level (TRL) of 4–5.

In accordance with this, having size, weight, and power (SWaP) characteristics compatible with compact spacecraft platforms such as CubeSats, miniaturized accelerometers are a promising technology for compact, cost‑effective inertial sensing with observation continuity.

That’s why our current research is based on using low‑loss materials, and in this way, LASSO is developing monolithic optomechanical acceleration sensors with high sensitivities at low frequencies (10⁻¹³ m/√Hz at 2 mHz to 10⁻¹⁵ m/√Hz at 100 Hz). These sensors can achieve an acceleration noise floor of 4×10⁻¹¹ m s⁻² with a high mechanical quality factor (above Q ≈ 500,000).

LASSO is currently conducting characterization and performance measurements to check our existing models, and we are also developing and testing packaging of these accelerometers for a space‑flight instrument prototype that preserves the high mechanical quality factor.