GOCE

© ESA

The Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission is the first in the European Space Agency’s Earth Explorer Core Missions within the framework of the Living Planet (Earth observation envelope) programme.

It will complement the existing Champ and Grace missions. GOCE’s mission objective is to provide models of the Earth’s gravity field and of its equipotential reference surface on a global scale with high spatial resolution and very high accuracy. This will not only help to extend understanding of the Earth’s interior structure and seismic processes but also of aspects such as ocean circulation, ice sheet topography and evolution and thus global sea-level change. The GOCE spacecraft is scheduled for launch on a Rockot launch vehicle in 2008 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia.

Astrium, a member of the core team of partners for the project selected by ESA under the prime contractorship of Thales Alenia Space, is responsible for the development of the platform.