ESA’s GOCE, Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation due for launch late 2004 or early 2005, the two year mission will provide, for the first time, precise estimates of the marine geoid and gravity field.
The spacecraft is based on European technology and will play a leading role in gravity field studies and data assimilation for operational ocean forecasting. Studies of ice-sheet mass, sea level change and other applications such as ship navigation will all benefit from the findings of the mission.