{"id":39737,"date":"2013-10-14T17:21:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T09:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/goce-mission-set-to-end-its-life-with-destructive-reentry\/"},"modified":"2013-10-14T17:21:44","modified_gmt":"2013-10-14T09:21:44","slug":"goce-mission-set-to-end-its-life-with-destructive-reentry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/goce-mission-set-to-end-its-life-with-destructive-reentry\/","title":{"rendered":"GOCE mission set to end its life with destructive reentry"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESA\u2019s Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer \u2013 GOCE \u2013 mission will soon come to a conclusion, following the spacecraft\u2019s depletion of its fuel supplies. Launched in 2009 by a Russian Rockot, the impressive looking spacecraft achieved three times its planned mission duration.<\/p>\n

\nGOCE:<\/p>\n

The GOCE satellite was developed by an industrial consortium of 45 companies, distributed over 13 European countries. It embodied many world-firsts in its design and use of new technology in space to map Earth\u2019s gravity field in unprecedented detail.<\/p>\n

\"Z4\"The impressive looking five-metre long satellite was designed to orbit at a very low altitude of just 260 km, due to the gravitational variations are stronger closer to Earth.<\/p>\n

GOCE\u2019s main instrument is the Electrostatic Gravity Gradiometer (EGG), a set of six 3-axis accelerometers mounted in a diamond configuration in an ultra-stable structure.<\/p>\n

Each accelerometer pair forms a \u2018gradiometer arm\u2019 50 cm long, with the difference in gravitational pull measured between the two ends. Three arms are mounted orthogonally: along-track, cross-track and vertically. The gradiometer proved to be 100 times more sensitive than any sensor of the same type previously flown in space.<\/p>\n

GOCE also carried a GPS receiver to be used as a Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking Instrument (SSTI) to supplement the gradiometer measurements. The SSTI consists of an advanced dual-frequency, 12-channel GPS receiver and an L-band antenna.<\/p>\n

GOCE\u2019s Laser Retroreflector allowed its precise orbit to be tracked by a global network of ground stations through the Satellite Laser Ranging Service \u2013 providing accurate positioning for orbit determination and data products.<\/p>\n

SpaceX<\/path>Rocket building kits<\/path>NASA educational resources<\/path>\n

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\"Z3\"It was launched on March 16, 2009 via a Russian Rockot \u2013 a converted SS-19 Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).<\/p>\n

The original two lower liquid propellant stages of the ICBM, in conjunction with a third stage for commercial payloads called Breeze KM, was optimised for delivering up to 1,950 kg into low Earth orbit. The launch vehicle placed GOCE into a Sun-synchronous, near-circular polar.<\/p>\n

With a sleek, aerodynamic design responsible for it being dubbed the \u2018Ferrari of space\u2019, GOCE has mapped variations in Earth\u2019s gravity with extreme detail.<\/p>\n

Scientists further exploited these data to create the first global high-resolution map of the boundary between Earth\u2019s crust and mantle \u2013 called the Moho \u2013 and to detect sound waves from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on 11 March 2011, among other results.<\/p>\n

In mid-October, the mission will come to a natural end when it runs out of fuel and the satellite begins its descent towards Earth from a height of about 224 km.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n