25 years of International Cooperation of Gravity Missions: Past, Present, Future…

The GRACE and GRACE-FO Earth observatories, launched in 2002 and 2018 respectively, have resulted in an unrivaled study of planet Earth’s water cycle (terrestrial water, glacier ice, and sea level change), and has forged the science communities understanding of our climate system. The overwhelming success of these gravity missions, through the international partnership and cooperation between NASA/JPL, GFZ, DLR, Airbus, and ONERA (The French Aerospace Lab), have provided the world’s science community with nearly uninterrupted water cycle and climate data for nearly 20 years. The data produced have been invaluable in assessing trends in surface water storage, aquifer storage, ice mass growth and loss of glaciers, which can be used to assess global climate change and long-term trends. This data is critical in the fight against the climate change pandemic currently challenging planet Earth. NASA, and their partner DLR, are currently in the formulation phase for providing a third observational pair, Mass Change, to continue this cornerstone climate measurement.