ESA EE8 "E.motion" (2010): GFZ

ESA EE8 "E.motion" (2010)

Based on major GFZ/STI R&D GRACE-FO 2008-2010 study findings a broad science and industry team from various European countries with lead in Germany and France has submitted end of June 2010 a proposal called E.motion (Earth System Mass Transport Mission) in response to the ESA Explorer Opportunity Mission Call EE8. Proposal secretaries were Thomas Gruber (TU Munich) and Isabelle Panet (IGN Paris), the PI was Johnny Johannessen (NERSC). The E.motion proposal was targeting on a GRACE-like mission to be launched in 2018 with a Laser Doppler Interferometer as prime satellite-to-satellite tracking instrument, a pendulum orbit at a lower altitude (ca. 410 km) and improved spatial resolution (ca. 200 km). The proposal was ranked high by ESA, but unfortunately not accepted due to too high implementation cost.