PIA21607: GRACE-FO Spacecraft (Artist's Rendering)
 Mission:  GRACE-FO
 Product Size:  8192 x 5821 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA21607.tif (90.62 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA21607.jpg (2.627 MB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This artist's rendering shows the twin spacecraft of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). GRACE-FO is a successor to the original GRACE mission, which began orbiting Earth on March 17, 2002. GRACE-FO will carry on the extremely successful work of its predecessor while testing a new technology designed to dramatically improve the already remarkable precision of its measurement system.

The GRACE missions measure variations in gravity over Earth's surface, producing a new map of the gravity field every 30 days. Thus, GRACE shows how the planet's gravity differs not only from one location to another, but also from one period of time to another.

For more information on GRACE-FO, go to https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Photojournal Note: This artist's rendering has been updated. See PIA22431.

Image Credit:
NASA JPL/Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2017-05-04