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GRACE-FO Satellite Switching to Backup Instrument Processing Unit
The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission team plans to switch to a backup system in the Microwave Instrument (MWI) on one of the twin spacecraft this month. Following the switch-over, GRACE-FO is expected to quickly resume science data collection.
A month after launching this past May, GRACE-FO produced its first preliminary gravity field map. The mission has not acquired science data since mid-July due to an anomaly with a component of the Microwave Instrument on one of the GRACE-FO spacecraft. The mission team is completing its investigation into the cause of the anomaly.
The primary science objective of GRACE-FO -- like its predecessor GRACE, which operated from 2002 to 2017 -- is to track how water is redistributed on Earth, by producing highly accurate, monthly gravity field maps. Measurements of changes in Earth's gravity field provide measurements of mass change and enable unique insights into Earth's changing climate, Earth system processes like droughts and sea level changes, and the impacts of human activities on water resources.
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment.
Previously: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Ends, "Follow-On" Launching Soon
SpaceX to Launch 5 Iridium Next and 2 GRACE Satellites Today: Tuesday May 22 @ 19:47:58 UTC
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15 2018, @08:47AM
Let me guess, the cause will turn out to be Global Warming.
Or the limited size for a block in the blockchain
Or maybe somebody drilled a 2mm hole in the chip and now the plug dried up and fell.
No? Then Trump for sure. Or better still Hillary. Or SJW. Or the incels. Or corporations
I give up, it's useless.