Dr Paul Tregoning's team will analyse the data from the new GRACE misison. Photo by Cole Bennets.
The Australian National University has welcomed the announcement of $4.7 million in funding for the next stage in the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite program, which will include laser testing and results analysis at the University. GRACE measurements reveal melting of the polar ice caps and are used to monitor changes in ground water. The announcement was made by Senator the Hon Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, as part of a suite of funding announcements from the Australian Space Research Program (ASRP). The project, led by The Australian National University, will bring together expertise from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, EOS Space Systems, the CSIRO's Australian Centre for Precision Optics, the National Measurement Institute and Germany's Albert Einstein Institute. Researchers will develop prototype hardware for a laser ranging system to fly on NASA's GRACE Follow On mission. GRACE is a satellite mission that has provided new and unexpected insights into the natural processes of Earth. The laser system will be developed by researchers from the ANU Centre for Gravitational Physics led by Dr Daniel Shaddock, while a team led by Dr Paul Tregoning from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences will analyse the data from the new mission.
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