GOCE Ready For Launch

Clarified by Isaac Newton in the 17th century, gravity is a fundamental force of nature. Everything that has mass is pulled by gravity with a constant acceleration. As Earth is not a perfect sphere and its interior has layers of different density, gravity varies around the globe. Gravity and its variation are fundamentals for every dynamic process on Earth's surface and its interior. GOCE will map the reference shape of our planet -what is called the geoid. This accurate map of Earth's gravity is crucial to picture how gravity affects the interaction between these processes.

The first of a series of European Space Agency's Earth Explorer satellites, the 1-tonne spacecraft carries a set of six state-of-the-art high-sensitivity accelerometer to measure the components of the gravity field along all three axes. The data collected will provide a high-resolution map of the geoid (the reference surface of the planet) and of gravitational anomalies. Such a map will not only greatly improve our knowledge and understanding of the Earth's internal structure, but will also be used as a much better reference for ocean and climate studies, including sea-level changes, oceanic circulation and ice caps dynamics survey.