GRACE 2

GRACE 2 is catalogued in this registry as a payload, held in the frame of Earth, from GCAT — artificial space objects.

Registry id GCAT_S27392 · source layer gcat · provenance PROCESSED — derived deterministically from source catalogues (unit, frame and epoch conversions, cross-source reconciliation) — no value invented

Exists from 2002-03-17 09:21:27 UTC (JD 2452350.8899) until 2017-12-24 00:15:00 UTC (JD 2458111.51042).

Open GRACE 2 in the live scene → The scene composes a position for any date and is where a figure becomes a picture. It downloads the whole catalogue first: measured against the built product, an object outside the core resolves after about 16 s over a local network and about 147 s over a 4 Mbit link, having transferred roughly 70 MB. If you cannot wait that long, this page is the answer.

Measured quantities

QuantityValueUncertaintySource
Radius1.55 mno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mass475 kgno published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects

Each row carries its own uncertainty and its own source. Where a row says no uncertainty is published, that is what the catalogue says — it is not a claim that the value is exact.

Orbit

These are the sourced elements. This page does not print a position: a position is a function of time, and a single one dated to the bake would be stale the moment it was read. The registry composes a position for any date, past or future, from these elements — open the scene below and set the clock.

QuantityValueUncertaintySource
Semi-major axis6865500 m (6865.5 km)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Eccentricity0.0018207 no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Inclination1.956933 rad (112.124°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Longitude of ascending node2.960582 rad (169.6289°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Argument of periapsis0 rad (0°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects
Mean anomaly at epoch4.356061 rad (249.5839°)no published uncertainty in this registryGCAT — artificial space objects

Elements are expressed in the frame of EARTH at epoch 2002-03-20 00:00:00 UTC (JD 2452353.5). Gravitational parameter of the primary: 3.9861389×10^14 m³/s². Semi-major axis in astronomical units uses the IAU 2012 definition (1 au = 1.495978707×10^11 m exactly).

Classification

Kindpayload
Originartificial (made by humans)
Operating nationGermany
Operator classscientific
Launch site codeGIK-1
Launch vehicleRokot
Launch outcomesuccess
UN registrationregistered with the United Nations — USA, Germany · ST/SG/SER.E/412
Separated fromGCAT_S27393 on 2002-03-17 10:46:59 UTC (JD 2452350.9493055553)
3-D modelcarries a published mesh

The catalogue's own note

S27392 #27392 2002-012B · GFZ/JPL/D · mfr ASTD · bus FlexBus · op LLEO/P · dry 443 kg · category SCI · class C · program DLR Geo · a/e/i GCAT; Ω,ω,M₀ not in GCAT → placeholder spread (ω = 0; display only) [GCAT]

Reproduced as the source wrote it. Author-year citations link to their DOI where one is registered.

What this registry does not know about it

These are absences in the catalogues aggregated here, not measurements of zero, and not statements that the quantity is unknown to science:

Where this record comes from

DatabaseGCAT — artificial space objects
AuthorityGCAT — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (J. McDowell)
Addresshttps://planet4589.org/space/gcat/tsv
LicenceCC-BY 4.0 — https://planet4589.org/space/gcat/
How it enteredRAW snapshot via scripts/ingest-gcat.ts
Snapshot2026-06-09
Coverage54,915 objects; 1138 multisegment; 349 landed; debris archived, off by default; 1,797 failed-to-orbit objects placed at their launch sites (existence-windowed to their fall); uncatalogued (CSO/analyst) objects included; 36 marked-erroneous (ERR) phantom entries skipped; 20,196 carry a MEASURED Ω/ω/M₀ from a Celestrak GP join, the rest a deterministic placeholder spread; launch log joined by Launch_Tag → site:/lv:/outcome: facets on 54,557 objects (54,508 with minute-precise launch time); 99 deep-space trajectories refined by JPL Horizons navigation arcs (piecewise osculating elements, heliocentric cruise spans only)

This database remains the property of its owners and is reused under its own licence. If you quote a value from this page, name that database alongside SolarSystemRegistry.org.