WMO OSCAR | Satellite: GRACE-FO (2 sats)

Satellite: GRACE-FO (2 sats)

Satellite details

Acronym	GRACE-FO (2 sats)
Full name	Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment - Follow-on
WIGOS Station Identifier	---
Satellite Description	2nd satellite couple of the GRACE programme. Main missions: Solid Earth (gravity field). Significant contribution to temperature/humidity sounding and ground water estimates.
Mass at launch	432 kg	Dry mass	398 kg
Power	200 W
Data access link	no link provided
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	490 km
Inclination	89 °

Space agency	NASA , DLR
Status	Operational
Details on Status (as available)
Launch	22 May 2018	EOL	≥2028
Last update:	2025-04-07

Associated satellite programme and related satellites

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

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
- GRACE (2 sats) (2002 - 2017)
- GRACE-C (2 sats) (2028 - 2035)
- GRACE-FO (2 sats) (2018 - 2028)

Satellite Payload

All known Instruments flying on GRACE-FO (2 sats)

Acronym	Full name
Tri-G	Triple G (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS)
HAIRS	High Accuracy Inter-satellite Ranging System
LRR	Laser Retro-Reflector
SCA	Star Camera Assembly
SuperSTAR	Super Space Three-axis Accelerometer for Research

Satellite payload

All known instruments flying on GRACE-FO (2 sats)

Instrument	Full name	Start date	EOL date	Status	NRT data	Data latency (mins)	Comments
Tri-G	Triple G (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS)	May 2019	≥2028 *	Active	Yes	219	Commissioning interrupted for three months because of failure of the Instrument Processing Unit of GRACE-FO 2. Restarted in January 2019.
HAIRS	High Accuracy Inter-satellite Ranging System	May 2019	≥2028 *	Active			Commissioning interrupted for three months because of failure of the Instrument Processing Unit of GRACE-FO 2. Restarted in January 2019.
LRR	Laser Retro-Reflector	May 2019	≥2028 *	Active			Commissioning interrupted for three months because of failure of the Instrument Processing Unit of GRACE-FO 2. Restarted in January 2019.
SCA	Star Camera Assembly	May 2019	≥2028 *	Active			Commissioning interrupted for three months because of failure of the Instrument Processing Unit of GRACE-FO 2. Restarted in January 2019.
SuperSTAR	Super Space Three-axis Accelerometer for Research	May 2019	≥2028 *	Active			Commissioning interrupted for three months because of failure of the Instrument Processing Unit of GRACE-FO 2. Restarted in January 2019.

* The information in this field is estimated or assumed