NASA’s satellite mission to study ocean health, air quality and the impacts of climate change for the benefit of humanity was successfully launched into orbit at 1:33 a.m. EDT on Thursday.
The Plankton, Aerosol, Climate and Marine Ecosystems satellite, known as PACE, was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA confirmed it received a signal from the satellite about five minutes after launch, and the spacecraft operated as expected.
“Congratulations to the PACE team on the successful launch. “With the addition of this new fleet of NASA Earth observation satellites, PACE will help us learn, more than ever, how particles in our atmosphere and oceans can determine “Missions like this support the Biden-Harris administration’s climate agenda and help us answer pressing questions about our changing climate.”
From hundreds of miles above Earth, the PACE mission will study the impact of small, often invisible things: microscopic life in water and microscopic particles in the air.
The satellite’s Hyperspectral Ocean Color Instrument will allow researchers to measure oceans and other bodies of water in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared spectrum. This will allow scientists to track the distribution of phytoplankton and, for the first time from space, determine the communities of organisms present at a global and daily level. Scientists and coastal resource managers can use the data to help predict the health of fisheries, track harmful algal blooms, and identify changes in the marine environment.
This spacecraft also carries two polarimeter instruments, the Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter 2 and the Planetary Exploration Spectropolarimeter. This will reveal how sunlight interacts with particles in the atmosphere, providing researchers with new information about the properties of aerosols and clouds, as well as air quality at local, regional and global levels.
By combining these instruments with polarimetric measurements, PACE will provide insight into ocean-atmosphere interactions, and how climate change affects these interactions.
“The scientific observations and research conducted by PACE will greatly advance our knowledge of the ocean’s role in the climate cycle,” said Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Sciences Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The value of PACE data increases dramatically when we combine it with data and science from surface water and ocean missions – Marks the beginning of a new era in marine science. As an open source science mission with early adopters willing to use its research and data, PACE will accelerate our understanding of the Earth system and help NASA deliver actionable science, data and practical applications to help coastal communities and industries meet rapidly evolving challenges. . “.
“It has been an honor to work with the PACE team and witness firsthand their dedication and perseverance in overcoming challenges, including a global pandemic, to make this observatory a reality,” said Marjorie Haskell, executive director of the PACE program at NASA Headquarters. . “The team’s passion and cooperation can only be matched by the enthusiasm of the scientific community for the data this new satellite will provide.”
Earth’s oceans respond to climate change in a variety of ways – from rising sea levels, marine heat waves, to loss of biodiversity. Through PACE, researchers will be able to study the impact of climate change on phytoplankton, which plays an important role in the global carbon cycle by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it into cellular material. These tiny organisms drive larger aquatic and global ecosystems that provide critical resources for food security, recreation, and the economy.
“After 20 years of thinking about this mission, it is exciting to finally see it come to fruition and witness its launch. “I couldn’t be more proud or more appreciative of this special PACE team,” said Jeremy Werdel, PACE project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The opportunities PACE provides are exciting, and we will be able to use this incredible technology in ways we never thought possible. “This is truly a mission of discovery.”
NASA’s Launch Services Program, headquartered at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, manages launch services for the mission. The PACE mission is managed by NASA Goddard, which also built and tested the spacecraft and the Ocean Color Instrument. Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter No. 2 was designed and built by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Planetary Exploration Spectropolarimeter was developed and built by a Dutch consortium led by the Netherlands Institute for Space Research and Airbus Defense and Space. Dutch.
For more information about PACE, visit:
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Iman Mackey/Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 240-285-5155
[email protected] / [email protected]
Jake Richmond
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
240-713-1618
[email protected]
2024-02-08 09:58:37
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