On 10th September (the same day the Large Hadron Collider powers up) the European Space Agency is launching the GOCE (or the Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Explorer… if you have time). It’s a superaccurate gravity mapping satellite which will hopefully teach us humans some interesting stuff… at the very least it’ll locate all of those gravity eating lizard ghosts.
The GOCE is the first in a series of Earth Exploring satellites – it’s companions will be CRYOSAT, SMOS, AEOLUS and the excellently-named SWARM. Five satellites in orbit with names like that – the European Space Agency have not confirmed that the quintuplet will merge to form a giant alien-battling robot in times of distress, but only because it’s so obvious it doesn’t need to be said.
(Via Daily Galaxy)