BackForward Satellite: GRACE (2 sats) 

Satellite details
Acronym GRACE (2 sats)
Full name Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
WIGOS Station Identifier ---
Satellite Description
  • 1st satellite couple of the GRACE programme.
  • Main missions: Solid Earth (gravity field).
  • Significant contribution to groundwater and temperature/humidity sounding.
Mass at launch 432 kg Dry mass 398 kg
Power 200 W
Data access link http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/
Data access information
  • Off-line data available from the Principal Investigators at the GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) in Potsdam, or the Center for Space Research (CSR) in Austin.
Orbit Drifting orbit Altitude 337 km
Inclination 89 °

 

Space agency NASA , DLR
Status Inactive
Details on Status
(as available)
  • The orbital height, initially 485 km, is slowly decreasing due to atmospheric drag.
  • Battery aging causes service interruption at intervals.
  • Mission of GRACE-2 terminated on 27 October 2017.  GRACE-1 continued to fly until end-December, but the scientific mission, requiring both satellites functoning, ended with GRACE-2.
Launch 17 Mar 2002 EOL 27 Oct 2017
Last update: 2023-02-13
Associated satellite programme and related satellites

Note: red tag: no longer operational , green tag: operational , blue tag : future

Satellite Payload

All known Instruments flying on GRACE (2 sats)

Acronym Full name
BlackJack BlackJack GPS Receiver
HAIRS High Accuracy Inter-satellite Ranging System
LRR Laser Retro-Reflector
SCA Star Camera Assembly
SuperSTAR Super Space Three-axis Accelerometer for Research
Show instrument status and calibration