GRACE and GRACE-FO

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) was a joint mission of <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> and the <a href="/facts/German_Aerospace_Center/nIeKtKqd">German Aerospace Center</a> (DLR). Twin satellites took detailed measurements of <a href="/facts/Earth%27s_gravity/IXe9Bh8k">Earth's gravity</a> <a href="/facts/Gravitational_field/K1uTmJFy">field</a> <a href="/facts/Gravity_anomaly/FDCnSSfx">anomalies</a> from its launch in March 2002 to the end of its science mission in October 2017. The two satellites were sometimes called Tom and Jerry, a nod to the <a href="/facts/Tom_and_Jerry/nzEFhXv9">famous cartoon</a>. The GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO) is a continuation of the mission on near-identical hardware, launched in May 2018. On March 19, 2024, NASA announced that the successor to GRACE-FO would be Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment-Continuity (GRACE-C), to be launched in or after 2028.
By measuring <a href="/facts/Gravity/bqAN7DdQ">gravity</a> anomalies, GRACE showed how mass is distributed around the planet and how it varies over time. Data from the GRACE satellites is an important tool for studying Earth's <a href="/facts/Ocean/8W8lYgjD">ocean</a>, <a href="/facts/Geology/WGvVRIYF">geology</a>, and <a href="/facts/Climate/f57XrNFU">climate</a>. GRACE was a collaborative endeavor involving the Center for Space Research at the <a href="/facts/University_of_Texas_at_Austin/6NApstxT">University of Texas at Austin</a>, NASA's <a href="/facts/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory/zPXnxRBf">Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a>, the German Aerospace Center and <a href="/facts/GFZ_German_Research_Centre_for_Geosciences/0u2xrIQ6">Germany's National Research Center for Geosciences</a>, Potsdam. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was responsible for the overall mission management under the NASA ESSP (Earth System Science Pathfinder) program.
The principal investigator is Byron Tapley of the <a href="/facts/University_of_Texas/6NApstxT">University of Texas</a> Center for Space Research, and the co-principal investigator is Christoph Reigber of the <a href="/facts/GFZ_German_Research_Centre_for_Geosciences/0u2xrIQ6">GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) Potsdam</a>.
The two GRACE satellites, GRACE-1 and GRACE-2, were launched from <a href="/facts/Plesetsk_Cosmodrome/QG25T5Ph">Plesetsk Cosmodrome</a>, Russia, on a <a href="/facts/Rockot/xXx9Gzg7">Rockot</a> (<a href="/facts/SS-19/D9mDCMFp">SS-19</a> + <a href="/facts/Briz_(rocket_stage)/nPncWv0Q">Briz</a> upper stage) launch vehicle on 17 March 2002. The spacecraft were launched to an initial altitude of approximately 500 km at a near-polar inclination of 89°. 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. Its successor, GRACE-FO, was successfully launched on 22 May 2018.
In 2019, a <a href="/facts/Glacier/8GrKVUSS">glacier</a> in <a href="/facts/West_Antarctica/eH1mUem3">West Antarctica</a> was named after the GRACE mission.

GRACE and GRACE-FO open-in-new

GRACE and GRACE-FO