the microwave rangefinders are just there to find the distance between the satellites, you could use a piece of string if you wanted to. You have to be in space for the thing to work at all. "The GRACE satellites measure gravitational fluctuations by flying in a caravan formation, one after the other, and constantly tracking the distance between them with microwave range finders. As the lead satellite passes over an area of greater gravity, it feels and reacts to the pull before the trailing craft. The satellites fly about 137 miles (220 kilometers) apart, with the ranging finding system between them accurate down to a micron, or smaller than the average red blood cell." in other words the trailing craft sees how the gravity affects the lead crafts orbit ----- Original Message ----- From: "rad0DW" To: Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 10:48 PM Subject: [ot]: Gravity's Rainbow > http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=1&u=/space/20030725/sc_space/gravitysrainbowgracemissionpushesforward > > Gravity's Rainbow: GRACE Mission Pushes Forward > > You guys might enjoy this. Can anyone explain how the microwave distance > measurment sensors work? Do they bounce the microwaves off and measure > the time? Or is there something else going on? > > Thanks > > So if it's just microwave emitters and detectors, is this something you > could only do in space? Would this fry people and animals? > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics > (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics