Twin satellites took detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field anomalies from its launch in March 2002 to the end of its science mission in October 2017.

[10] The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was responsible for the overall mission management under the NASA ESSP (Earth System Science Pathfinder) program.

[15] From the thinning of ice sheets to the flow of water through aquifers and the slow currents of magma inside Earth, mass measurements provided by GRACE help scientists better understand these important natural processes.

[18] GRACE data are critical in helping to determine the cause of sea level rise, whether it is the result of mass being added to the ocean – from melting glaciers, for example – or from thermal expansion of warming water or changes in salinity.

[19] High-resolution static gravity fields estimated from GRACE data have helped improve the understanding of global ocean circulation.

[22][23] GRACE data have also provided insights into regional hydrology inaccessible to other forms of remote sensing: for example, groundwater depletion in India[24] and California.

[26] A University of California, Irvine-led study published in Water Resources Research on 16 June 2015 used GRACE data between 2003 and 2013 to conclude that 21 of the world's 37 largest aquifers "have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted" and thirteen of them are "considered significantly distressed."

GIA signals appear as secular trends in gravity field measurements and must be removed to accurately estimate changes in water and ice mass in a region.

For instance, GRACE data have been used to analyze the shifts in the Earth's crust caused by the earthquake that created the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

[29] In 2006, a team of researchers led by Ralph von Frese and Laramie Potts used GRACE data to discover the 480-kilometer-wide (300 mi) Wilkes Land crater in Antarctica, which was probably formed about 250 million years ago.

The instrument computer along with a highly precise BlackJack GPS receiver and digital signal processing system was provided by JPL in Pasadena.

The highly precise accelerometer that is needed to separate atmospheric and solar radiation pressure effects from the gravitation data was manufactured by ONERA.

The ranging system is sensitive enough to detect separation changes as small as 10 micrometers (approximately one-tenth the width of a human hair) over a distance of 220 kilometers.

[4] As the twin GRACE satellites circle the globe 15 times a day, they sense minute variations in Earth's gravitational pull.

To remove the effect of external, non-gravitational forces (e.g., drag, solar radiation pressure), the vehicles use sensitive Super STAR electrostatic accelerometers located near their respective centers of mass.

[36] CSR, GFZ, and JPL process observations and ancillary data downloaded from GRACE to produce monthly geopotential models of Earth.

[38] Gridded products estimating changes in mass in units of liquid water equivalent thickness are available at JPL's GRACE Tellus website.

[48] After a full investigation by an anomaly response team at JPL, the backup system in the MWI was powered up on 19 October 2018 and GRACE-FO resumed its in-orbit checks.

[55] In addition, each of the satellites will use GPS antennas to create at least 200 profiles per day of atmospheric temperature distribution and water vapor content, a first for the GRACE mission.