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ESA to launch satellite to look at the Earth’s surface and core.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is about to launch the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite to map the reference shape of our planet – the geoid.

In an effort to map the shape of the Earth with unprecedented resolution and accuracy, the satellite will be placed on a low altitude near sun-synchronous orbit by a Russian Rocket vehicle launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia (800kms north of Moscow.)

The one-tonne spacecraft has onboard a set of six state-of-the-art high-sensitivity accelerometers to measure the components of the gravity field along all three axes. It will collect data as a high-resolution map of the geoid and of gravitational anomalies.

It is also hoped that this map will greatly improve our knowledge and understanding of the Earth’s internal structure, as well as provide a much better reference for ocean and climate studies, geophysics, and geodetic and positioning activities.

You can follow a video transmission of the launch, web-streamed here.

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