Incidences of gravity

2001/10/04 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Fisika
• Astronautika

We will not deny that the Earth is round, but at least it will not be a totally uniform sphere. Fluctuating in the density of the mass and in the distance to the center appear on the terrestrial surface, which causes changes in gravity. But in addition to these circumstances, the slow processes that occur on Earth, such as the melting of the poles, produce small changes of gravity over time. Therefore, the Grace mission has been launched to measure all these changes.

This satellite can measure very small variations of gravity, being 100 times more accurate than the data obtained to date. The differences of gravity are measured according to their influence on the orbital movement of the satellites and carry out a thorough follow-up of the changes that occur in this mission at the distance between several Grace satellites.

Although we are not yet aware of all the uses this technique can have, we can analyze, among other things, how the structure of the Earth, the oceans and the climate is modified.