Next-Generation GRACE Satellites Arrive at Launch Site
(World News Science)

A pair of advanced U.S./German Earth research satellites with some very big shoes to fill is now at California`s Vandenberg Air Force Base to begin final preparations for launch next spring. Following a year-long test campaign by satellite manufacturer Airbus Defence and Space at IABG in Ottobrunn, near Munich, Germany, the twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellites were loaded aboard an air freighter at Munich airport Dec. 11 and arrived at the launch site on California`s central coast Tuesday, Dec. 12. GRACE-FO will provide continuity to the Earth climate data record of the extremely successful predecessor GRACE, which completed its science mission in...