Franz-Heinrich Massmann, GFZ section Global Geomonitoring and Gravity Field, has received the „Award for Outstanding Achievement“ by the International SpaceOps Organzisation. He was honored for the contribution to the operation of the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission. Initially, the German-American mission was planned for five years. By the end of fall 2017, it had been delivering data of the Earth's gravity field for more than 15 years.

This is largely due to the GRACE Operations Team, who has developed new procedures and methods to maintain the operation as long as possible despite aging hardware. In addition to the GFZ, the team also includes experts from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the University of Texas, Airbus, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Massmann came to the GFZ in 1992. Since the launch of the CHAMP mission in 2000, he has been the contact person for the Space Operations Center of the DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen. Meanwhile he is responsible for the operation of the mission GRACE Follow-On as Operations Mission Manager. Launched on May 22 aboard a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Airforce Base in California, the two satellites are currently being checked and calibrated for precise measurements used to calculate the Earth's gravity field. (rn)