Grace FO 1

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General

Designation	43476 / 18047A
Launch date	22 May 2018
Country of origin	United States & Germany
Mission	Geodesy
Perigee/Apogee	500 km
Inclination	89°
Period	94.5 min
Launch vehicle	Falcon 9 #62

5 years lifetime

The satellites will constantly measure the distance between each other to within a few microns using a microwave system built at JPL.
At the same time, a sensitive accelerometer, built at Onera in France, will account for non-gravitational effects, such as atmospheric drag and solar radiation. The data will be used to track the movement of liquid water, ice and land masses by creating monthly maps of the changes in Earth's gravitational field.

The GRACE-FO satellites will also feature a new inter-satellite laser ranging instrument, developed in a German/American joint venture, which will be tested for use in future generations of satellites. In addition, each satellite will record up to 200 profiles per day of temperature distribution and water-vapour content in the atmosphere and the ionosphere to aid weather forecasting.

Flies 220 km apart from Grace FO 2.



sat-index articles

n2yo.com tracking

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