Funded by Italian Space Agency under contract N. 2016-9-U-0 (CUP F42F16000820005)

The MOCASS study was kicked off in March 2017 and completed in July 2018.

The project involved professors and researchers from three universities, coordinated by POLIMI. The goal of the study was to propose a gravity mission concept relying on a low orbiting satellite and a payload represented by an innovative gradiometer based on the Cold Atom technology and to demonstrate that such a mission can allow to monitor mass distribution and variations which occur on and below the Earth surface, with a high spatial resolution. The proposed mission was based on an improved “GOCE follow-on” concept, and the data were analyzed applying the space-wise approach developed at POLIMI.

Within the project, the SATGEO team performed simulations of the mission observations based on the instrumental characteristics of the Cold Atom interferometer and computed the corresponding solutions in terms of Earth gravity models, to define the resolution and accuracy which could be attained. The mission that has been defined in the frame of this project could give better insights in the dynamic gravity field, allowing for new applications in earth exploration, cryosphere monitoring, hydrology and oceanography.