Mission design,operation and exploitation of the gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer mission |
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| Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Rune?FloberghagenEmail author Michael?Fehringer Daniel?Lamarre Danilo?Muzi Bj?rn?Frommknecht Christoph?Steiger Juan?Pi?eiro Andrea?da?Costa |
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| Institution: | 1.Earth Observation Programmes,European Space Agency,Frascati,Italy;2.Human Spaceflight and Operations,European Space Agency,Darmstadt,Germany |
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| Abstract: | The European Space Agency’s Gravity field and steady-state ocean circulation explorer mission (GOCE) was launched on 17 March
2009. As the first of the Earth Explorer family of satellites within the Agency’s Living Planet Programme, it is aiming at
a better understanding of the Earth system. The mission objective of GOCE is the determination of the Earth’s gravity field
and geoid with high accuracy and maximum spatial resolution. The geoid, combined with the de facto mean ocean surface derived
from twenty-odd years of satellite radar altimetry, yields the global dynamic ocean topography. It serves ocean circulation
and ocean transport studies and sea level research. GOCE geoid heights allow the conversion of global positioning system (GPS)
heights to high precision heights above sea level. Gravity anomalies and also gravity gradients from GOCE are used for gravity-to-density
inversion and in particular for studies of the Earth’s lithosphere and upper mantle. GOCE is the first-ever satellite to carry
a gravitational gradiometer, and in order to achieve its challenging mission objectives the satellite embarks a number of
world-first technologies. In essence the spacecraft together with its sensors can be regarded as a spaceborne gravimeter.
In this work, we describe the mission and the way it is operated and exploited in order to make available the best-possible
measurements of the Earth gravity field. The main lessons learned from the first 19 months in orbit are also provided, in
as far as they affect the quality of the science data products and therefore are of specific interest for GOCE data users. |
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