First Experience with the Transportable MPG-2 Absolute Gravimeter.

We report on design details and first results obtained with the transportable absolute gravimeter MPG-2 (˵Max-Planck-Gravimeter″). It is developed as an evolution of the stationary device MPG-1, completed in 2007. The MPG-2 is built on a common scheme where the position of a freely falling object is monitored. The setup consists of a ballistic block, an interferometer and the electronics. Free fall drops can be repeated every 10 s with the standard deviation close to 30 μgal. A one-day gravity observation gives a result with a standard deviation of the mean of less than 5 μgal. A prototype of the MPG-2 took part in the ECAG-2007. New measurements at the reference gravity station ˵Bad Homburg″, Germany confirmed the declared combined standard uncertainty of 50 μgal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]