What does GRACE stand for NASA?

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), launched by NASA on March 17, 2002, is revealing more detail about the gravity field than has ever been available before.

What is the GRACE Satellite doing?

GRACE – Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. GRACE, twin satellites launched in March 2002, are making detailed measurements of Earth’s gravity field which will lead to discoveries about gravity and Earth’s natural systems. These discoveries could have far-reaching benefits to society and the world’s population.

What does FO GRACE mean?

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on (GRACE-FO) measures changes in Earth’s gravity field in order to track water movement and surface mass changes across the planet.

Is GRACE satellite still working?

During normal operations, the satellites were separated by 220 km along their orbit track. This system was able to gather global coverage every 30 days. GRACE far exceeded its 5-year design lifespan, operating for 15 years until the decommissioning of GRACE-2 on 27 October 2017.

Why are the satellites called GRACE?

GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) was a gravity study mission, a joint project between NASA and DLR of Germany, and was part of the international Earth Observing System of satellites. The mission consisted of two identical satellites GRACE – A and GRACE – B and they were launched together.

Is GRACE satellite active or passive?

The GRACE mission have shown that the use of active sensor technology on earth system satellite missions that utilizes microwave laser instruments and likely laser interferometers is incredibly efficient at understanding changes in earth’s geoid.

What have we learned from the GRACE mission satellite?

In more than 15 years of operations, the GRACE satellite mission revolutionized our view of how water moves and is stored on Earth. GRACE measured changes in the local pull of gravity as water shifts around Earth due to changing seasons, weather and climate processes.

What type of satellite is GRACE?

Microwaves, Lasers and the Future Using the microwave ranging system, GRACE can measure the distance between satellites to within one micron — about the diameter of a blood cell. The two GRACE-FO satellites use the same kind of microwave ranging system as GRACE, and can achieve a similar level of precision.

When did Grace-fo start?

May 22, 2018
GRACE-FO, which launched May 22, 2018, will continue the work of tracking Earth’s water movement to monitor changes in underground water storage, the amount of water in large lakes and rivers, soil moisture, ice sheets and glaciers, and sea level caused by the addition of water to the ocean.