Spacewatch: twin research satellites head for burn-out
by Stuart Clark from on (#33HTA)
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment has revealed ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica and mapped water levels in the Yangtze river
A pair of German-American Earth observation satellites are due to be retired this November and put on trajectories that will see them burn up in Earth's atmosphere in 2018.
The two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellites were launched on 17 March 2002 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome, in north-west Russia. They fly in formation, about 140 miles (220km) apart, and measure the gravitational field of the Earth.
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