Laser metrology for next generation gravity mission

Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) [1], the first Earth Explorer of the Living Planet Programme of the European Space Agency (ESA), accomplished its mission between 2009 and 2013, providing a global map of Earth's gravity with unprecedented accuracy and detail: 1 mGal (10,
⁻⁵
m/s
²
) on the gravity-field anomalies and 1 cm on the geoid height with a spatial resolution of 100x100 km
²
.