It's a gravity survey satellite. They get better measurements if they fly closer to the earth, so there's a motivation to lower the orbit. GOCE flies so low that it needs to take aerodynamics into account, so it is sleek, like an aircraft.*
* It is, of course, actually an aircraft, like all satellites, to some degree, at least in the layman's definition of the word.
GOCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Field_and_Steady-State...
It's a gravity survey satellite. They get better measurements if they fly closer to the earth, so there's a motivation to lower the orbit. GOCE flies so low that it needs to take aerodynamics into account, so it is sleek, like an aircraft.*
* It is, of course, actually an aircraft, like all satellites, to some degree, at least in the layman's definition of the word.