AeroVia LogoAeroVia
Back to Missions

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

NASA and the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) used twin spacecraft to measure changes in Earth’s gravity field and track the movement of water and ice.

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
NASA/JPL · JPL public-site imagery may be used without prior permission unless otherwise noted, with the image credit preserved and no claimed or implied endorsement by NASA, JPL, or Caltech. PIA04236 identifies no third-party owner. · Source
Follow this mission

Alerts are unavailable because this mission is no longer active.

Identity

Aliases
GRACEGravity Recovery and Climate ExperimentGRACE-1/GRACE-2
Name
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
Status
completed

Details

Astronauts
-
Description
NASA and the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) used twin spacecraft to measure changes in Earth’s gravity field and track the movement of water and ice.
Destination
Near-polar orbit at approximately 500 km (89° inclination) as twin spacecraft measuring minute changes in separation to map Earth’s changing gravity field and track groundwater, ice sheets, sea level, and ocean circulation
Launch Site
Outcome
Launched March 17, 2002, the twin GRACE spacecraft measured minute changes in their separation to produce monthly maps of Earth’s changing gravity field, transforming studies of groundwater, ice sheets, sea level and ocean circulation.
Programs
Start Date
2002-03-17
Vehicle Families

Links

Official Url
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/grace/

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
August 14, 2026 at 19:10:18 UTC
Updated Time
August 23, 2026 at 06:41:48 UTC
Image
Download

Other

Affiliations
Space Stations
-
Vehicles
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment - AeroVia