The GRACE Follow-on Mission

Recipient: The Australian National University (ACT)

Funding: $4,673,001

Satellites over Earth

Consortium members:

  • CSIRO (NSW)
  • EOS Space Systems Pty Ltd (ACT)
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (USA)
  • Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) (Germany)
  • National Measurement Institute (NSW)

Project contact:

Dr Daniel Shaddock
Email: daniel.shaddock@anu.edu.au

This fact sheet is avaliable to download [PDF 70KB]


Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
      

The project is developing prototype hardware for a laser ranging system suitable to be flown on NASA’s GRACE Follow-on mission, scheduled for launch in 2016.  The current GRACE mission (Gravity Recover and Climate Experiment) was launched in 2001.  It is an incredibly successful satellite mission that has provided new and unexpected insights into the natural process of the Earth, including for example, the ability to understand and predict the water balance across Australian catchments.  GRACE data also has uses in measuring the effects of climate change such as sea level rises as a result of melting glaciers.

Along with the prototype hardware, the project is developing analysis capability in Australia to process raw observations from the mission.  Importantly, it is developing new links between Australian institutions and international partners at the forefront of space-based instruments.

During the first year of the project the consortium has finalised the architecture of the laser ranging system. The centrepiece of the system is the triple mirror assembly, an ultra-stable structure that routes the laser beam around the inside of the spacecraft. Australian scientists and engineers, working closely with German colleagues, have begun constructing a carbon fibre and glass triple mirror assembly prototype, to be completed in early 2012. This project also allowed graduate students to work with NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on a system that successfully removed jitter in the frequency of the laser.

The GRACE Follow-on Mission project is an excellent example of how Australia can collaborate with domestic and overseas organisations to contribute to what will be a truly international mission.

See the latest project news from the Australian National University (ANU)