Critical takes part in project to measure the Earth's Gravity Field

Today, GOCE project will be presented to the Media in European Space Agency’s (ESA) centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Critical Software worked with ESA in the development of the GOCE satellite which will measure the gravity field and represent models of the Earth with extremely high accuracy and spatial resolution, allowing us to significantly improve our knowledge about solid Earth physics and climate research. The module tests on the software onboard the satellite were performed by Critical.

                                      
                                        ESA Copyright


The GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite is part of ESA’s fleet of Earth Explorers, which will perform research missions for the Living Planet Programme. These missions focus on the key components of our planet, such as the geosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere and biosphere. The aim is to make space-based global measurements to advance our understanding of the interactions between these components and the impact that human activity is having on natural Earth processes. The GOCE mission will therefore improve our knowledge of Earth interior processes such as earthquakes and volcanism but also of ocean circulation, which plays a crucial role in energy exchanges around the globe, and sea-level change.

The development of the GOCE satellite was carried out by an industrial consortium of 45 companies, distributed over 13 European countries, which encompasses Critical Software, requested to support the GOCE Platform Application software (PASW) Module Test. The PASW software components’ module testing activities included:

• Statement and decision coverage;
• Robustness testing of global data and parameters;
• Checking for unused and uncreachable source code;
• Code inspections and reporting; 

 

"As a software testing expert company, Critical has once again demonstrated its abilities to perform software verification and validation, an area in which it has earn respect from other Space industry players in Europe", says Bruno Carvalho, Business Development Manager for Space.

Media representatives will have the opportunity to attend an in-depth GOCE background briefing taking place today, 3rd of April, at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The programme includes a visit to the test facilities to see the satellite at first hand before it is shipped to Russia, in mid 2008, where it will be launched from the Russian spaceport Plesetsk.