This update sent in from GOCE Operations Manager Christoph Steiger at ESOC this morning.

This morning, GOCE is at an altitude of roughly 192 km, with atmospheric drag levels at an average of 24 mN (milliNewton) and peaks up to 35 mN.

The spacecraft is still fully functional with good attitude control. Our routine spacecraft monitoring and tracking activities are proceeding as planned.

Today, GOCE is expected to drop by about 4 km. The atmospheric drag and the resulting altitude decay rate are going to increase significantly over the coming days, as GOCE gets lower and lower.