Grace-FO

Airbus Defence and Space has completed the design phase and started build-up of the gravity recovery and climate experiment follow-on (Grace-FO) twin satellites.

The company has recently received the carbon fibre composite structures, and has commenced building phase of the two research satellites at its facility in Friedrichshafen, Germany.

The Grace-FO mission is being undertaken in partnership between Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ-Potsdam).

Planned for launch in mid-2017, the twin satellites will be spaced by 220km and operate in the same polar orbit around Earth, at an altitude of around 500km.

The satellites are being deployed to evaluate Earth’s gravitational field once a month by taking precise measurements between each other using laser, a joint German / American technology for gravitational research satellites.

"Geoscientists will be able to discover dynamic processes beneath the Earth’s surface, as well as…changes in the ice coverage at the poles."

Using the accumulated data, geoscientists will be able to discover dynamic processes beneath the Earth’s surface, as well as identify deep and surface currents in the oceans and changes in the ice coverage at the poles.

Each of the satellites will create up to 200 profiles a day covering temperature distribution and the water vapour content in the atmosphere and the ionosphere.

The position of the Grace-FO satellites will be determined through GPS receivers, while a satellite-to-satellite microwave connection will help in precise distance measurements between them.

The new, twin satellites will be the follow-on spacecraft of the Grace mission, which has been supporting worldwide climate research since 2002.

Image: The Grace-FO satellites underway at Airbus’ Friedrichshafen integration centre. Photo: courtesy of Airbus DS / Mathias Pikel.