[IGSMAIL-6264] CHAMP End of Mission

[Rolf Koenig]

Author: Chris Reigber, Rolf Koenig

Dear colleagues,

after  3718 days in orbit the CHAMP spacecraft re-entered on Sun-
day, Sept.19, around midday over the Sea of Okhotsk. The last ra-
dio  contact was established on the same day at 08:26 UT over the
German ground station Weilheim at an altitude  of  only  150  km.
This  marks  the  end of a geoscience mission, which exceeded the
expectations by far.  With CHAMP  almost  continuous  observation
series over an unprecedented long time period have been generated
for the Earth gravity field, the magnetic  field  and  the  atmo-
sphere.  Modeling activities were and will continue to be largely
dependent on the high quality POD/OCC results  as  obtained  with
the  BlackJack  SGPS-  and  the SLR- observations for CHAMP.  The
CHAMP mission team wants to express its sincere  thanks  to  both
the ILRS and the IGS for the tremendous support all their service
entities , in particular the station crews, have provided for the
CHAMP  mission, a mission covering the full "Decade for Geopoten-
tials".  Many thanks again

Chris Reigber Rolf Koenig