"The European Space Agency [ESA] will present Europe's first GOCE [Gravity field and steady state Ocean Circulation Explorer mission] satellite at the ESTEC [European Space Research and Technology Center in Noordwijk, the Netherlands] in early April," the Russian center said.
The ESA said on its website Thursday that the GOCE satellite "is designed to provide unique models of the Earth's gravity field and of the geoid, on a global scale and with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution."
GOCE will be launched from the Plesetsk space center in northwest Russia in spring 2008 and put into a low earth orbit (LEO) of 270-300 km (170-186 miles).
"GOCE will significantly improve our knowledge of solid Earth physics and climate research. A better understanding of the gravity field will advance our knowledge of how the Earth works and trigger a number of important practical applications, such as an improved understanding of ocean circulation as well as a greater insight into sea-level change," the ESA said.
The contract to launch GOCE was concluded between the ESA and Eurockot Launch Services GmbH, a joint venture of the Khrunichev center (49%) and EADS Astrium (51%).
A total of seven launches of Rockot carrier vehicles have been made since 2000 under the Eurockot program, with 15 satellites owned by leading space agencies and organizations from the United States, Europe and Asia put into orbit.
