Artistic rendition of the GOCE satellite is courtesy of the European Space Agency.

For more information regarding Thales Alenia Space, please access this direct link to their website.

Developed and built by Thales Alenia Space for the European Space Agency (ESA), in the next few days the GOCE satellite will self-destruct during atmospheric reentry from its final operational orbit at an altitude of 229 kilometers. The satellite had an extended lifetime of 35 months.