Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer
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The Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) was the first of ESA's Living Planet Programme heavy satellites intended to map in unprecedented detail the Earth's gravity field. The spacecraft's primary instrumentation was a highly sensitive gravity gradiometer consisting of three pairs of accelerometers which measured gravitational gradients along three orthogonal axes.
Artist's view of GOCE. Its sleek, aerodynamic design led it to be dubbed the 'Ferrari of space'
Model of GOCE
GOCE flares to magnitude +2 as the 67.5 degree solar panel briefly mirrors sunlight (3 January 2010, 17:24:23.15 UTC).
Gravity of Earth
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The gravity of Earth, denoted by g, is the net acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the combined effect of gravitation and the centrifugal force .
It is a vector quantity, whose direction coincides with a plumb bob and strength or magnitude is given by the norm .
Earth's gravity measured by NASA GRACE mission, showing deviations from the theoretical gravity of an idealized, smooth Earth, the so-called Earth ellipsoid. Red shows the areas where gravity is stronger than the smooth, standard value, and blue reveals areas where gravity is weaker (Animated version).
Earth's radial density distribution according to the Preliminary Reference Earth Model (PREM).
A plumb bob determines the local vertical direction