The European Space Agency's (ESA) Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE), has finally had a successful launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Moscow, as announced by Khrunichev Space Centre on Tuesday March 18th.
GOCE is 5m (16ft) in length, weighs around 1052 kilograms (2,314lbs), and its extremely low orbit is at 260kms (163 miles). The program cost is around 350 million euros (455 million US$).
GOCE is part of ESA's Earth Explorer Program and is the first satellite in a series of monitoring satellites to be launched by ESA. The satellite was produced by a European consortium of Thales Alenia Space (Turin, Italy), EADS Astrium Space (Friedrichshafen, Germany) and Thales Alenia Space (Cannes, France) and over other 45 European firms contributed.
For 24 months, GOCE's mission will precisely measure and collect three-dimensional gravity data over the entire planet and provide a gravity map of Earth. This information is important for climate models and understanding how Earth’s biosphere interacts, especially the ocean circulation currents that drive the atmospheric processes on the planet. The Greenland, Arctic and Antarctic ice fields will also be precisely measured as part of the survey.
Six highly sensitivity accelerometers will measure Earth’s gravity pull on the spacecraft and the information will allow modelers to digitally create the Earth’s geoid (shape) with an accuracy of 1-2 cms (0.04-0.08inch). The gravity-field variation measurements are to 1 mGal accuracy (mountains cause a 10-100 milligals change).
The spacecraft is streamlined to avoid atmospheric drag from stray atoms at such a low altitude and uses two xenon ion engines giving 1-20milliNewtons of thrust (equivalent to a human exhalation of breath) and counter-act the atmospheric drag.
After 3 months of satellite testing the real mission will start and soon there will be data to survey the world’s ocean height, the variation of Earth’s density and important climate model information for climatologists.
Resources
ESA-ESTEC GOCE mission: http://www.esa.int/esaLP/LPgoce.html
GOCE stimulation: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/GOCE/SEMNVU3G6KF_1.html#subhead1
Read our previous article on GOCE.
Trevor Williams is a University of Victoria Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate specialising in renewable energy, power grid modelling and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. He has a bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering, a Masters in Management Science and over 23 years international experience in the space industry, having worked on Earth observation and telecommunications satellites. He is the author of the Eco Geek blog.
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