GRACE

Mission
Twins in orbit fly
linked by microwaves reveal
Earth mass in motion
— Ab Davis, GRACE Project Manager, JPL

Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, Maryland

NP-2002-2-427-GSFC
Acknowledgements
Content Developed By: Alan Ward

Designed By: Winnie Humberson

Edited By: Margaret Baguio, Bill Bandeen, Charlotte Griner, Michael King, Margaret Srinivasan.

Technical Input Provided By: Christoph Reigber, Rick Fitzgerald, Frank Flechtner, Bob Garnett, Marc Imhoff, Byron Tapley,
Srinivas Bettadpur, John Ries, Don Chambers, Ab Davis, Mike Watkins.

Front Cover Foreground: These images show three different views of the Earth’s geoid—a surface of equal
gravitational potential that, over the ocean, closely follows the sea surface.The
geoid was determined from data collected by previous satellite missions. Among
these satellites is the Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP), the forerunner to
GRACE, launched by the German Georesearch Center GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam
(GFZ). Similar products will be developed using data from GRACE with an expected
improvement in accuracy of several orders of magnitude.These images were provided
courtesy of GFZ. The illustration of the GRACE satellites was provided by Chris Meaney.

Front Cover Background: This day/night image of the Earth was produced using a combination of data from
the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) sensor aboard NASA’s Terra
satellite (daytime portion), and the city lights image produced using Operational Line Scan
(OLS) data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite.The daytime side of the Earth in this
image was made using surface reflectance data from MODIS.The data was composited
over a period of several months during the Northern Hemisphere of summer 2001.
(Image courtesy of Robert Simmon and the MODIS Science Team.)

Back Cover: This is a photograph of the two identical spacecraft in the environmental test
facility at Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft GmbH (IABG) in Ottobrun, Germany. When
deployed into space, the two craft will be upright inside the launch vehicle. After launch,
they will fly 500 km above the Earth and will be separated by 220 km.The photograph was
provided courtesy of Astrium GmbH.
Gravity! What is it?
You can’t see it!
You can’t smell it!
You can’t touch it!
But it’s there. In fact, it’s everywhere.

While gravity is much weaker than other basic forces in nature, such as magnetism and
electricity, its effects are ubiquitous and dramatic. Gravity controls everything from the
motion of the ocean tides to the expansion of the entire Universe.To learn more about
the mysteries of gravity, twin satellites named GRACE—short for the Gravity Recovery
and Climate Experiment—are being launched to make detailed measurements of Earth’s
gravity field.This experiment could lead to discoveries about gravity and Earth’s natural
systems, which could have substantial benefits for society and the world’s population.

The GRACE mission will be the inaugural flight of NASA’s Earth System Science
Pathfinder Program (ESSP). A component of NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise (ESE), the
ESSP missions are intended to address unique, specific, highly focused scientific issues
and provide measurements required to support Earth science research.

The ESSP missions are an integral part of a dynamic and versatile program consisting of
multiple Earth system science space flights.The ESSP program is characterized by rela-
tively low- to moderate-cost, small-to medium-sized missions that are capable of being
built, tested and launched in short-time intervals. Each mission is led by a Principal
Investigator (PI), who is responsible for all elements of the mission, from ensuring the
science accuracy to making sure the mission stays on budget and on time. ESSP mis-
sions are capable of supporting a variety of scientific objectives related to Earth sci-
ence, including the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, polar ice regions and solid Earth.
Investigations include development and operation of remote sensing instruments and
conducting research using data returned from these missions. Subsequent satellite
launches are planned over the next few years, all of them focusing on the atmospheric
sciences.
 “It’s a
This
is a three
dimension-
al rendering bumpy w
of the Earth’s
geoid magnified a orl
thousand times, with the por- d”!
tion due to the Earth’ oblateness
removed.The magnification highlights smaller scale variations in !
gravitational potential that are caused by the uneven distribution of mass
over the surface of the Earth.The GRACE mission will measure these fluctuations
with unprecedented precision. (Image courtesy of Jet Propusion Laboratory.)

WhyA Mission To Study Gravity?

If Earth were a smooth sphere composed of similar elements or ingredients, there

would be no need for a GRACE mission; the assumption made in most introductory
physics courses that the acceleration due to Earth’s gravitational field has a constant
value would indeed be correct—end of story. However, previous observations have
clearly demonstrated that our Earth isn’t smooth and homogeneous and it really isn’t
even a sphere! What’s more, the images shown above are just instantaneous snapshots
from one moment in time.The reality is that the gravity field is continually changing,
mostly due to variations in water content as it cycles between the atmosphere, oceans,
continents, glaciers, and polar ice caps. By far the largest “lump” is the flattening
observed at the poles—the Earth’s oblateness.The above profiles have removed the
portion of the response due to oblateness in order to focus on the smaller anomalies
that exist. GRACE will reveal the broad features of the Earth’s gravitational field over
land and sea; it will also allow for these smaller scale features to be identified and stud-
ied with unprecedented accuracy, and it will show how the Earth’s gravity field varies
with time.

2
GRACE 2002: A Scientific Geodesy

Gravity is the invisible force that pulls two masses together.The branch of science deal-
ing with obtaining precise measurements of the Earth, mapping points on the surface,
and studying its gravitational field is known as geodesy. Producing a precise model of
the fluctuations in gravity over the Earth’s surface has proven to be a formidable task.
Currently, data from several dozen satellites must be combined to produce a model of
Earth’s gravitational field.These models do a good job at replicating the large-scale fea-
tures of Earth’s gravitational field but cannot resolve finer-scale features or accurately
describe the small month-to-month variations associated with the hydrologic cycle.The
unique design of the GRACE mission (twin satellites flying in formation) is expected to
lead to an improvement of several orders of magnitude in these gravity measurements
and allow much improved resolution of the broad-to finer-scale features of Earth’s
gravitational field over both land and sea.

180 90W 0 90E 180

60N 60N

30N 30N

0 0

30S 30S

60S 60S

180 90W 0 90E 180

mGal

-100 -50 0 50 100

This is a plot of the Earth’s geoid (surface of equal gravitational potential) produced by the Earth Gravitational
Model (EGM96), one of many models used for gravity studies. The Space Geodesy Branch of NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center worked in collaboration with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and The
Ohio State University (OSU) to develop this model. Data from GRACE is expected to allow for a quantum
leap of several orders of magnitude in the precision and resolution of the geoid. The improved rendering of
the geoid will have benefits for many disciplines that rely directly or indirectly on precise measurements of the
gravity field, including disciplines that study the Earth’s climate.

3
 The distribution of mass over the Earth is non-uniform. GRACE will determine this
uneven mass distribution by measuring changes in Earth’s gravity field.The term mass
refers to the amount of a substance in a given space, and is directly correlated to the
density of that substance. For example, a container filled with a more dense material,
like granite, has more mass than that same container filled with water. Because mass
and density are directly related, there is also a direct relationship between density and
gravity. An increase in density results in an increase in mass, and an increase in mass
results in an increase in the gravitational force exerted by an object. Density fluctua-
tions on the surface of the Earth and in the underlying mantle are thus reflected in
variations in the gravity field. As the twin GRACE satellites orbit the Earth together,
these gravity field variations cause infinitesimal changes in the distance between the
two.These changes will be measured with unprecedented accuracy by the instruments
aboard GRACE leading to a more precise rendering of the gravitational field than has
ever been possible to date.

This schematic diagram illustrates the

Global mass distribution and redistribution: different forces that redistribute mass
Atm
Ice
osp on the surface of the Earth. Since
he Spatial and temporal variations
re
in the Earth gravity field mass changes and gravity changes are
(observation - interpretation)
correlated, the data retrieved by the
Lit
ho
sp
Oc GRACE satellite should help scientists
he ea
n
re better quantify these movements and
their impact on the Earth’s climate.
(Image provided by GFZ.)
Co
nti
ne

Mantle
nt

GRACE will do more than just produce a more accurate gravitational field plot, howev-
er.The measurements from GRACE have important implications for improving the
accuracy of many scientific measurements related to climate change. Substantive
advances in the interpretation of satellite altimetry, synthetic aperture radar interfer-
ometry, and digital terrain models, covering large land and ice areas used in remote
sensing applications and cartography, will result from the improved gravitational field
measurements provided by GRACE.These techniques provide critical input to many
scientific models used in oceanography, hydrology, geology and related disciplines, and,
for this reason, the Earth Science community eagerly anticipates the GRACE launch.
The next few pages present some of the expected scientific applications.

4
 Tracking water movement on and
beneath Earth’s surface
Perhaps the most interesting and least well-measured cause of fluctuations in the
Earth’s gravitational field is movement of water over the surface of the Earth.The gravi-
tational data collected by GRACE will be combined with data from other NASA satel-
lites, aircraft and ground-based measurements to study the movement of liquid water
over our home planet with a level of detail never before possible.Water moves in sig-
nificant quantities throughout the Earth’s hydrologic cycle (see diagram), and at a rapid
rate relative to other processes that redistribute mass over Earth’s surface.

The gravitational variations observed by GRACE are primarily attributable to the sea-
sonal and interannual movement of water throughout the hydrologic cycle.This means
that by combining measurements from GRACE with measurements taken on the
ground, scientists will be able to improve their models of water exchange between the
ocean and land surfaces—through rainfall, deep soil moisture, and runoff.This can be
done from continental scales down to regional scales of a few hundred kilometers.

This diagram illustrates the hydrologic cycle and shows how water in solid, liquid and vapor forms,
circulates over, under and above the surface of the Earth. Gravity fluctuations correlate with varia-
tions in the density of the land surface below.These illustrations can be used to track water move-
ment. In effect, gravity becomes a mechanism to track water movement our eyes cannot see.
GRACE data may lead to the identification of new sources of fresh water—which is of particular
interest to populations located in arid regions of the Earth.

5
 These figures illustrate the ability of GRACE to recover month-to-month variations in the water stored in individual
river basins as compared to more traditional methods. The figure on the left looks at the entire Mississippi River
basin while the figure on the right focuses on one sub-basin of the Mississippi. In each figure, the upper panel shows
an outline of the river basin, along with a color contour of a mathematical averaging function that GRACE might use
to estimate the water variations within that basin. The red line in the lower panel shows monthly variations in the
actual water storage signal, in units of cm of water thickness; the blue line shows the values that GRACE would
recover. In general, GRACE can recover water storage signals to about 1 cm or better for basins where the effective
radius is 250-300 km or larger. The larger the basin, the more data from GRACE will improve the accuracy of these
calculations. Hence it will do a better job looking at the entire Mississippi basin than it will do on individual sub-
basins. ( Image provided by John Wahr, University of Colorado.)

6
 Tracking changes in ice sheets
and changes in global sea level

The question of whether ice caps are shrinking or growing is important for climate
change studies. As the area covered by ice sheets decreases, the surface area of the
Earth’s oceans increases, leading to increased heat absorption and rising temperatures.
This, in turn, melts more ice and contributes to global sea level rise. Data provided by
GRACE will help scientists better understand how ice sheet mass is changing and the
impact the changes are having on global sea level. GRACE data, when combined with
height variations measured with ground-based, aircraft, and satellite instruments, like
the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on the Ice, Clouds, and Land Elevation
Satellite (ICESat), will allow for improved computations of ice sheet mass balance. Also
by combining the GRACE gravity field measurements with surface elevation measure-
ments (such as from radar altimeters), scientists will be better equipped to distinguish
between the mean ocean level changes due to thermal expansion and those due to
actual redistribution of water.

The issue of long-term changes in ice sheet mass is

an important one for climate studies, and data from
GRACE should help scientists quantify these changes.
The diagram illustrates the idea that as the ice sheet
melts, the increased surface area of open water
absorbs more heat, raising temperatures, melting
more ice, and also contributing to sea level rise.

GRACE will be able to precisely measure very small

changes in Earth’s gravitational field that result from
changes in the mass of ice sheets. Shown here is
computer generated image of Greenland that shows
how the ice mass is changing. Blues indicate areas
where the loss of ice is greatest, and yellows indicate
regions that are apparently thickening. Gray areas
indicate no significant change in ice thickness.

7
 15 Satellite altimeters such as those on
TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 can meas-
10 ure the total mean sea level change, as
illustrated here with TOPEX/Poseidon
data from 1993 to the middle of 2001.
5
However, the altimeter alone cannot dis-
AMSL (mm)

tinguish between what portion of the

0 observed anomaly can be attributed to
warming of the ocean and what part is
-5 due to water being added from melting
ice sheets. Data provided by GRACE,
used in conjunction with altimeter meas-
-10
urements like those shown here, should
help scientists better distinguish
-15
between these two phenomena. (Image
courtesy of Don Chambers, University
-20 of Texas, and Steve Nerem of the
1994 1996 1998 2000 2002
Year
University of Colorado.)

For example, data from GRACE is expected to greatly improve scientists’ understanding of
how much global sea level is being impacted by a phenomenon known as postglacial
rebound. Postglacial rebound refers to the slow rebounding of the Earth’s crust that is
occurring now that the weight of the ice from the last Ice Age is no longer present.The
rebounding of the crust can affect relative sea level at the coastline in a manner that varies
from place to place.This can confound efforts to determine how much of the overall
observed change in sea level is actually caused by thermal expansion of the oceans result-
ing from global warming.

Postglacial rebound accounts for the vertical

movement of land in many parts of the
world.These shifts, which have been continu-
ing since the last Ice Age ended, affect relative
sea level at the coastline in a manner that
varies from place to place. Such movements
can confound tide gauge records obtained
from coastal sites and thus complicate efforts
to track the overall change in global sea level.
The data retrieved by GRACE will be com-
bined with the previously mentioned altime-
ter readings to get a better handle on how
much of the perceived change in sea level is
attributable to the phenomenon of postglacial
rebound and how much might be attributed
to global warming.This particular image
depicts the predicted time rate of change in
geoid height expected to result from post-
glacial rebound as predicted by the ICE-4G
(VM2) Toronto model (Image provided by
W.R. Peltier, University of Toronto, Canada.) Change in Geoid Height Over Time (mm/yr)

-1 -.8 -.6 -.4 -.2 0 .2 .4 .6

8
 Studying ocean currents both near
the surface and far beneath the waves
If the ocean were motionless, the sea surface would still have hills and valleys.This
static topography of the ocean is caused by the fluctuations in the gravity field caused by
variations in density over the surface of the ocean. Because the oceans are always in
motion—swept by winds, seething with waves, and circulating in gigantic currents and
gyres driven by surface winds and by the rotation of the Earth—the shape of the
ocean’s topography cannot be determined by static gravity measurements alone. An
additional component, known as the dynamic topography must be accounted for to pre-
cisely measure the shape of the ocean surface at any given time. Although dynamic
topography only accounts for about one percent of the total variation of the ocean’s
topography, it is an extremely important component for it contains important informa-
tion about the speed and direction of ocean currents. Consequently, scientists would
very much like to improve their ability to measure and track changes in dynamic topog-
raphy.

This image shows sea surface topography data from TOPEX/Poseidon. When such
data are combined with the precise geoid measurements expected from GRACE,
scientists should be able to study currents from satellites using a technique known
as dynamic topography. This image was acquired in March 2001 in the aftermath
of earlier El Niño/La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific. Areas toward the
blue end of the spectrum represent anomalously low sea surface heights for
March and areas toward the red end represent anomalously high values for
March.

GRACE data should help scientists

understand the role ocean currents
play in regulating Earth’s climate.This
image from the MODIS sensor
onboard the Terra satellite shows the
Gulf Stream (red), a surface ocean
current that plays a critical role in
redistributing heat from the tropics to
the poles. It has a moderating influ-
ence on the climate of Northwest
Europe, which would otherwise be
much colder—similar to other loca-
tions at the same latitude, such as
Greenland. This particular image was
obtained on May 2, 2001 and was
provided by Liam Gumley of the
MODIS Atmosphere Team, University
of Wisconsin-Madison Cooperative
Institute for Meteorological Satellite
Studies.

9
 Two pieces of information are needed to make a dynamic topography measurement,
sea surface height and a model for the Earth’s geoid. Since the impact of dynamic
topography on the shape of the ocean surface is quite small compared to the impact of
the static gravity field, the measurements must be extremely precise and of high resolu-
tion. Satellite altimeter measurements from TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 can provide
this level of detail for sea surface height measurements, but to date, there are no geoid
measurements with sufficient precision and resolution to allow satellite-derived meas-
urements of dynamic topography. Scientists expect the data returned by GRACE to
provide the precise, high resolution geoid measurements required to measure dynamic
topography affects.They hope to use these data to better understand the role that
ocean currents play in regulating the Earth’s climate.

Ocean currents regulate Earth’s climate by transporting heat from equatorial regions to
the poles.The Earth’s oceans essentially serve as huge heat reservoirs and currents
both at the ocean surface and far beneath the waves—known as deep ocean cur-
rents—act as massive “conveyor belts” that distribute this heat over the surface of the
Earth. Consequently, any changes in these equator-to-pole “conveyor belts” could signif-
icantly change the weather all around the globe. Scientists are particularly hopeful that
GRACE will help them better understand the role that deep ocean currents play in
regulating climate. Until now, deep ocean currents have remained shrouded in mystery
since they have been very difficult to measure. However, the design of the GRACE
satellites makes them ideally suited to examine deep ocean currents and should lead to
improved ability to track them and study their impact on global climate.

60

30

-30

-60

0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360

-15 -12 -9 -6 -3 0 3 6 9 12 15
Change in Ocean Heat Flux (W/m2)

This map illustrates the heat exchange flux over Earth’s oceans for a five year period. A negative value indicates
an area where the ocean is losing heat while a positive value indicates an area where the ocean is absorbing heat.
Ocean heat exchange flux plays a crucial role in regulating the Earth’s climate and data from GRACE should help
improve the accuracy of these measurements

10
 Tracking changes in the solid Earth

GRACE data will also improve our understanding of Earth’s lithosphere—solid Earth.
More precise measurements of the Earth’s gravity field, such as those provided by
GRACE, should lead to an improved understanding of the dynamics of the inner struc-
ture of the Earth.The characteristics of the continental lithosphere are the subject of
varying opinions. Questions remain regarding its thermal and compositional nature,
thickness, and mechanical properties. GRACE can track variations in the density of the
lithosphere by looking at its impact on the Earth’s gravitational field.Thus, data from
GRACE will be used to compare competing models of the lower mantle viscosity and
contribute to the improved understanding of mantle convection.

Using GPS Receivers as Atmospheric

Limb Sounders
Occultation no. 12 on August 27, 2001
1:07 UTC 50.1°S 4.4°E
In addition to the gravity meas- 40
CHAMP
urement, the GRACE mission will ECMWF
also employ an innovative new 35

technique that uses its extremely

precise Global Positioning System 30

(GPS) receivers as atmospheric

limb sounders. Limb sounding 25
altitude [km]

measures the excess delay of

20
radio waves as they pass through
and are bent by the Earth’s
15
atmosphere. Just as light is
refracted or bends as it enters
10
water because of the slower
speed of light in the water, GPS 5
signals are refracted as they pass
through the atmosphere.The pre- 0
200 220 240 260 280
cise degree of bending (and hence
dry temperature [K]
the precise excess delay) is highly
dependent on atmospheric pres- The graph shows a dry temperature profile derived by
sure, temperature, and moisture GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) from CHAMP occulta-
tion data observed on August, 27, 2001.The corresponding
content.These can all be estimat-
meteorological analysis data from the European Centre for
ed from precise observations of Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is plotted for com-
the changing signal delay as the parison.

11
 This diagram,
originally provid-
ed by GFZ, illus-
trates how the
occultation
process works.
The GRACE
satellite tracks a
GPS satellite as it
“rises” and “sets”
through the limb
of the atmos-
phere, while a
second GPS
serves as a refer-
ence point.

GPS Satellite rises or sets.The ionosphere, which is the name applied to the ionized
upper atmosphere above 100 km altitude, also affects the speed of radio waves
according to the density of electrons in the ionosphere. It turns out that GPS signal
distortion caused by the ionosphere varies as the radio frequency of the signal
changes but that atmospheric distortions remain constant with changing radio fre-
quency.Thus, this technique not only measures the distortion of the GPS signal but
it can also distinguish how much of the observed distortion is caused by the atmos-
phere and how much is caused by the ionosphere.

As GRACE orbits the Earth, it will use forward and aft looking antennas to meas-
ure the signals from the slower orbiting GPS satellites as they appear to rise or set
behind the Earth's limb. GRACE will also measure GPS signals from higher elevation
GPS satellites that are not affected by the atmosphere (illustrated in the diagram)
as a standard of comparison.

By observing how the GPS path delays through the atmosphere change, GRACE
will create profiles of pressure, temperature, and humidity for the atmosphere and
measure the variability of the ionosphere down to 100 km altitude. It is anticipated
that the limb sounding technology aboard GRACE will extend and complement
other spaceborne atmospheric sensors. GRACE will provide about 500 limb sound-
ing measurements per day, unaffected by weather conditions (such as clouds and
storms) that hinder or block other satellite sensors.The GRACE limb sounding
measurements will be used to determine the effectiveness of limb sounding in
improving numerical weather prediction in a cost effective manner.

12
GPS sounding of the continuously changing ionosphere aims to advance our under-
standing of the Sun’s influence upon the Earth’s environment, including its effects on cli-
mate, weather, radar and radio communications. Limb sounding will also be studied as a
means of detecting rapid vertical changes of the Earth’s surface such as volcanic explo-
sions, earthquakes, tsunamis and other such phenomena, which are thought to cause
disturbances in the ionosphere.

Data
Processing and Archiving

System development, data processing and archiving are performed in a shared Science
Data System (SDS) between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the University of Texas
Center for Space Research (UTCSR), and the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ).
Telemetry data are received by the GRACE Raw Data Center (RDC) at Deutsches
Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) in Neustrelitz, Germany—illustrated in the
Instrumentation section.

The first level of data processing is performed at JPL, where sensor calibration factors
are applied, the data are correctly time-tagged, quality control flags are added, and the
data sample rate is reduced from the high rate data of previous levels. Data are then
sent to UTCSR and GFZ, where the mean and time variable gravity field is derived
from the calibrated and validated data. Data are archived for distribution at JPL’s
Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO.DAAC) and at GFZ’s
Information System and Data Center (ISDC).15 GRACE data include 30-day estimates
of gravity fields, as well as profiles of air mass, density, pressure, temperature, water
vapor, and ionospheric electron content.

13
 Instrumentation and Measurements

This is
a schematic
diagram of the two
GRACE satellites in
orbit with the K-
band microwave
beam connecting
them and precisely
tracking fluctuations
in the distance
between the two
satellites. The fluc-
tuations are used to
infer changes in the
gravitational field on
the surface of the
A sneak peak at the innards of a spacecraft! For the GRACE mission, the spacecraft itself is the main instru- Earth below.
ment. This picture shows the GRACE spacecraft with the solar panels removed and gives a clear view of the
various components. A diagram of the interior components of the space craft appears on the inside back
cover.

GRACE is different from most Earth observing satellite missions—Terra and Aqua
for example—because it will not carry a suite of independent scientific instruments on
board.The two GRACE satellites themselves act in unison as the primary instrument.
Instantaneous changes in the distance between the twin satellites are used to make an
extremely precise gravitational field measurement.

To measure gravity from space, the two identical GRACE satellites fly in the same orbit—
one 220 km (137 miles) ahead of the other. As the pair circles the Earth, areas of slightly
stronger gravity will affect the lead satellite first, pulling it away from the trailing satellite.
The uniquely designed Superstar Accelerometer is used to distinguish gravity influences
from those of air drag.The K-band ranging instrument is capable of measuring the distance
between the satellites with a precision better than the width of a human hair. By monitor-
ing this distance, GRACE will be able to detect fluctuations in the gravitational field and,
therefore, differences in the density of the Earth’s surface beneath the satellites.The data
will be combined with GPS data to produce a map of the gravity field approximately once
a month.

14
 This diagram illustrates the flight con-
figuration and ground support for the
GRACE mission. Fluctuations in densi-
ty of the Earth’s surface result in very
small changes in the distance between
the two satellites, which are measured
with very high precision by the K-
band ranging system.The S-band relay
(shown protruding from the bottom
of each satellite) allows for communi-
cation with surface tracking stations.
The GPS satellites are used as refer-
ences to determine the precise loca-
tion of the two satellites in orbit and
allow for the creation of gravity
maps—approximately once a month.

K Band Horn

LRR

KBR
Sampler Assembly
MTQ Fr
on
tP
an
MTM el
Y SCA - Y K-Band
Horn

GPS NAV
Battery Antenna
Z Tank IPU
S - Band Boom DU +X
(Magnetometer Inside) PC ACC
Launcher SU
Adapter
Sh
GPS BKUP ea MTE
Antenna rP Tank USO - 1
an -X C
AC U rm
el IC tfo
Pla
OBDH
nt
Abbreviations Used in GRACE Satellite Diagrams Re uip
me
ar in Eq
Pa Ma SCA + Y
ne RF
l EA
ACC ICU Superstar Accelerometer Interface Control Unit
ACC SU Superstar Accelerometer Sensor Unit GYRO
ATH Attitude Control Thrusters GPS OCC
CESS Coarse Earth and Sun Sensor Antenna
GPS NAV
GPS BKUP Antenna GPS Backup Antenna Antenna
GPS NAV Antenna GPS Navigational Antenna ATH
GPS OCC Antenna GPS Occultation Antenna
IPU Instrument Processing Unit SZA - TX
KBR Assembly K-Band Ranging System Assembly
LRR Laser Retro Reflective Assembly SZA - RX

MTE Center of Mass Trim Assembly Electronics GPS BKUP

ATH

MTM Center of Mass Trim Assembly Mechanism Antenna ATH

MTQ Magnetorquers
OBDH On Board Data Handling ATH els
P an
OTH-1, OTH-2 Orbit Control Thrusters Top

PCDU Power Control and Distribution Unit n

ico
RFEA Radio Frequency Electronics Assembly Sil
tar s
a l S r Cell
b
SCA Baffle Star Camera Assembly Baffle OTH - 1 Glo Sola ATH SCA Baffle
SCA +Y, SCA -Y Star Camera Assembly
ATH
SZA – RX S-Band Zenith Antenna, Receive OTH - 2
SZA – TX S-Band Zenith Antenna, Transmit GPS OCC els
Antenna an
eP
Tank -X, Tank +X Cold Gas Tanks Sid
CESS
USO-1 Ultra Stable Oscillator

15
 Education
and Public Outreach

The GRACE mission benefits from

and will build upon the interest in
oceanography that has been grow-
ing in recent years with the recog-
nition of the El Niño/La Niña phe-
nomenon. GRACE provides a
strong basis to draw public and
student interest since new,
extremely accurate models of the
Earth’s gravity field will be generated.

The Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC)

works in partnership with the mission team to
develop and implement GRACE education and outreach.
GRACE master teachers were selected from across the nation through an application
and review process.These master teachers have created interdisciplinary K-12 educa-
tional materials that meet the National Educational Standards to support the GRACE
mission in the areas of Satellites, Gravity,Weather/Climate/Atmosphere, Oceans, and
GRACE general mission facts and objectives.These master teachers have trained hun-
dreds of teachers about the GRACE mission impacting tens of thousands of students,
and the activities have been tested in classrooms across the nation.When GRACE
launches, the activities will be available to all educators on the TSGC web site,
http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/education/. In addition to classroom activities, an on-
line GRACE activity guide, coloring book, and on-line quiz will be available for all inter-
ested.

Animations, photos and interviews with mission personnel will be available to all tradi-
tional media outlets—television, print, and radio. Computer animation, showing the
spacecraft deployments, orbit ground tracks, data collection, and real world applications
of the data, is available.The GRACE web site will also document, publicize, and expand
the mission’s science data including computer animations, downloadable educational
materials, a frequently asked questions (FAQ) archive, and evaluation/ suggestion forms
for feedback.This information will be updated regularly.

GRACE will revolutionize the way we look at Earth, providing new benefits for six bil-
lion people living on this beautiful, blue planet.Through youth development and educa-
tion we will enhance our understanding of this dynamic and living world we call home.

16
 SS/L JHUAPL MIT UL ONERA GFZ KSG UB TUM DLR IABG KSRC

JPL

UTCSR

CU OSU KSC GSFC LaRC AMA GRGS AGmbH EGmbH DLR/GSOC AWI DTU

Participating Institutions Key Participants

B. Tapley UTCSR, Principal Investigator (PI)
United States C. Reigber GFZ, Co-PI
AMA Analytical Mechanics Association, Inc. Hampton, VA A. Davis JPL, Project Manager
CU The University of Colorado Boulder, CO M. Imhoff GSFC, ESSP Project Scientist
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA) Greenbelt, MD E. Koenemann DLR, GRACE Manager
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA) Pasadena, CA R. Fitzgerald GSFC, GRACE Mission Manager
JHUAPL Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. Laurel, MD M.M. Watkins JPL, Project Scientist
KSC Kennedy Space Center (NASA) Cocoa Beach, VA
LaRC Langley Research Center (NASA) Hampton, VA U.S. Science Team
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA B. Tapley UTCSR, Lead
OSU The Ohio State University Columbus, OH S. Bettadpur UTCSR
SS/L Space Systems/Loral Palo Alto, CA R. Gasparovic JHUAPL
UTCSR University of Texas Center for Space Research Austin, TX R.S. Gross JPL
W.G. Melbourne JPL
European D. Porter JHUAPL
AGmbH Astrium GmbH Friedrichshafen, Germany C.K. Shum OSU
AWI Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Bremerhaven Germany J. Wahr CU
Research M.M. Watkins JPL
DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt Bonn, Germany C. Wunsch MIT
DLR/GSOC DLR German Space Operations Center Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
DTU The Technical University of Denmark Copenhagen, Denmark European Science Team
EGmbH Eurockot GmbH Bremen, Germany C. Reigber GFZ, Lead
GFZ GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam Potsdam, Germany G. Balmino GRGS
GRGS Groupe de Recherches de Géodésie Spatiale Toulouse, France F. Flechtner GFZ
IABG Industrieanlagen-Betriebsgesellschaft GmbH Ottobrunn, Germany K.H. Ilk UB
KSG Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen Copenhagen, Denmark N. Jakowski DLR
KSRC Khrunichev State Research and Production Moscow, Russia P. Knudsen KSG
Space Center Y. Ricard UL
ONERA Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Paris, France R. Rummel TUM
Aerospatiale J. Schroeter AWI
TUM Technical University of Munich Munich, Germany P. Schwintzer GFZ
UB University of Bonn Bonn, Germany
UL University of Lyon Lyon, France

17
 Technical Specifications
General Spacecraft Information (Twin Satellites)

❖ Width: 1942 mm

❖ Length: 3123 mm

❖ Height: 720 mm

❖ Mass: 487 kg per satellite

❖ Design Life: 5 years

Orbit Characteristics

❖ Two satellites, co-orbiting at near polar inclinations at 300-500 km altitude.

❖ Separated along track by 220 km.

Key Components

❖ K-band Ranging System. Provides precise (within 10 µm) measurements of the distance change between
the two satellites and hence measures the fluctuations in gravity.

❖ S-band Boom. Used to send data from the satellites back to Earth for processing.

❖ SuperSTAR Accelorometers. Precisely measures the non-gravitational accelerations acting on the satellite.

❖ Star Camera Assembly. Precisely determines satellite orientation by tracking them relative to the position
of the stars.

❖ Ultra Stable Oscillator. Provides frequency generation for the K-band Ranging system.

❖ Coarse Earth and Sun Sensor. Provides omni-directional, reliable and robust, but fairly coarse Earth and
Sun tracking. To be used during initial acquisition and when GRACE is operating in “safe mode.”

❖ Center of Mass Trim Assembly. Precisely measures offset between the satellite’s center of mass and the
“acceleration-proof” mass, and adjusts center of mass as needed during flight.

❖ Black-Jack GPS Receiver and Instrument Processing Unit. Provides digital signal processing; measures
the distance change relative to the GPS satellite constellation; and provides secondary atmospheric
occulation experiments.

❖ Laser Retro-Reflective Assembly. Provides measurements of the GRACE satellite orbits relative to
terrestrial tracking networks.

❖ Globalstar Silicon Solar Cell Arrays. Covers the outer shell of the spacecraft and generates power.

❖ Three-axis Stabilized Attitude Control System: Uses star camera and gyro sensors and a cold-gas
nitrogen thruster system, with magnetorquers for fine corrections of spacecraft position.

❖ 1750-A Microprocessor for Flight Computer. Performs calculations for attitude adjustment and telemetry
processing.

18 * See photos and diagrams on page 14 and 15 for detailed layout of spacecraft.
Science Measurement Objectives

The following table presents a concise summary of exactly what measurements GRACE
will obtain and the instruments that are used to obtain them, as well as how many space-
craft are involved in each measurement.

Science Application Measurement Instrument # of spacecraft needed

for measurements

Earth Gravity Field Inter-Satellite K-Band Microwave 2

Range Change Link

Earth Gravity Field Non-Gravitational Accelerometer 2

Accelerations

Earth Gravity Field Satellite Orbits Black Jack GPS Receiver 2

Atmospheric GPS-to-GRACE Black Jack GPS Receiver 1

Occultation Phase Change

This science data in conjunction with ancillary data, will then be used to gain estimates of
spherical harmonic coefficients of the Earth’s gravitational potential.These coefficients are
necessary to construct the 30-day maps of gravitational potential that will be the end-
product from the primary GRACE measurements.

Gravity Measurement Error

Inter-satellite Range Measurement: < 4 µm @ twice/rev
< 10 µm total @ 0.1 to 0.0001 Hz

Non-Gravitational Acceleration Measurement: < 10 -10 m/s2 noise (+1/f)

< 4 x 10 -12 m/s2 tones.

Precision Orbit Measurement: 5 cm absolute

< 0.2 mm, relative in plane

19
 Science
Applications Summary
The estimates of the Earth gravity field from GRACE, in conjunction with other space-based
measurements, in situ data and geophysical models will be used to determine the time varying
changes in the mass of the Earth’s dynamical system due to different geophysical processes as
described in detail in this brochure.

Static Gravity Field Measurements

APPLICATION RESOLUTION

Oceanic Heat Flux >1000 km

Ocean Currents >1000 km

Solid Earth Sciences >300 km

Time Variable Gravity Field Measurements

APPLICATION RESOLUTION TIME SCALE COMMENTS

Oceanic Heat Flux >1000 km Seasonal 30 day estimate

Ocean Bottom Pressure >500 km Seasonal 30 day estimate

Deep Ocean Currents >500 km Seasonal 30 day estimate

Sea Level Rise >700 km Secular 5 year estimate

Evapo-Transpiration >300 km Seasonal 30 day estimate

Greenland/Antarctic Ice Secular 5 year estimate

Seasonal 1 year estimate

20