Airbus awarded contract to build GRACE-C twin spacecraft by NASA

Airbus has been awarded a contract to design and build the GRACE-C (gravity recovery and climate experiment-continuity) twin spacecraft satellites by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission is a collaboration between NASA and German Space Agency at DLR (German Aerospace Centre), a partnership which began with the GRACE mission in 2002 and the GRACE Follow-On mission launched in 2018. During its five year lifetime, GRACE-C will continue to monitor climate change from space, measuring changes in the planet's gravity field. It will observe the shifts in the Earth's groundwater, oceans, ice sheets, and land shift from month-to-month. ""In environmental monitoring, continuity is key,"" said Airbus head of space systems Alain Faure. ""The valuable data provided by the previous GRACE missions is testament to their success and it is great news that Airbus continues to be part of this international mission providing the tools to measure how our climate is evolving."" GRACE-C is a rebuild of the two GRACE Follow-On satellites with upgraded avionics.