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A revolutionary new satellite that will provide an unprecedented look at Earth’s microscopic marine life and tiny atmospheric particles is ready for launch.
The NASA PACE, or Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud and Ocean Ecosystem mission, will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:33 a.m. ET on Thursday. The launch will be broadcast live on NASA’s website and YouTube channel.
Currently, weather conditions are 95% suitable for launch. The launch, originally planned for Tuesday morning, was postponed twice due to bad weather conditions at the launch site.
PACE project scientist Jeremy Werdell said scientists began considering a way to better understand how ocean and atmospheric processes shape the planet about 20 years ago.
The mission will shed light on how aerosols and clouds, as well as phytoplankton in the oceans, serve as indicators of ocean health and global warming. The three devices on PACE, including two polarimeters and a camera, will capture a rainbow of data made up of different wavelengths of light, “allowing us to see things we’ve never been able to see before,” he said. NASA’s Earth Sciences Division.
“What we’re doing here with PACE is actually searching for the microscopic, mostly invisible universe that exists in the sea, in the sky, and to some degree on land as well,” Werdell said.
Although designed as a three-year mission, PACE has enough fuel to continue orbiting and studying Earth for up to 10 years. The spacecraft will join a fleet of more than two dozen NASA Earth science missions orbiting our planet, collecting data on oceans, land, ice and atmosphere to provide greater insight into how Earth’s climate is changing.
Missions like PACE and the international Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission known as SWOT, launched in 2022, could also transform the way researchers understand Earth’s oceans.
“We are in the midst of an undeniable climate crisis,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Our planet is experiencing transformative changes, from an increase in extreme weather events and devastating bushfires to rising sea levels. NASA is not just a space and aviation agency. We are a climate agency. We use the unique vantage point of space to study our home holistically as a planet and collect vital earth science data. “This information then reaches people around the world, enabling them to make informed decisions about how to protect our planet and its inhabitants for future generations.”
Eyes from the air in Earth’s skies
Kate Calvin, NASA’s chief scientist and senior climate advisor, said in January that NASA and other agencies announced that 2023 would be the warmest year on record, part of a general trend in which global temperatures have increased over the past decade.
Warming is largely caused by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Once released, carbon dioxide is absorbed by land and oceans, but some remains in the atmosphere, trapping greenhouse gases that warm the planet.
“One of the great things about a mission like PACE is that it allows us to better understand the carbon exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere,” Calvin said.
But other factors also contribute to warming, including aerosol particles in the atmosphere that collectively consist of pollutants, dust, smoke and sea salt. Aerosols can reflect or absorb sunlight and affect cloud formation, Calvin said.
St. Germain said aerosols play a tremendous role in Earth’s weather, air quality and climate.
St. “They come from sources like dust from Sahara fires and even human activities,” Germain said. “They seed clouds that can cross the Atlantic and develop into hurricanes, but they also reflect a lot of the sun’s energy. “They will therefore play an important role in the long-term stability of the Earth’s climate.”
PACE atmospheric scientist Andy Sayer said aerosols can contribute to poor air quality that causes chronic conditions such as asthma, and understanding the composition of aerosols and their location in the atmosphere can help identify hotspots for polluted air and provide better warnings.
Two polarimeter instruments on PACE will help scientists examine particle size, composition and aerosol abundance in Earth’s atmosphere across a range of wavelengths to provide a detailed portrait of the most problematic areas.
Mapping microscopic life from space
Approximately 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, and these massive bodies of water often present more questions than answers; But scientists hope PACE can help change that.
St. “In many ways, we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our own oceans,” Germain said. “PACE will be the most advanced mission we have ever launched to study ocean biology. “It will teach us about the oceans just as Webb taught us about the universe.”
From orbit, PACE will look for light reflected from tiny organisms called phytoplankton and see where they thrive floating on the surface of Earth’s oceans. The mission carries the Ocean Color Instrument. More than 100 different wavelengths of light will be used to study phytoplankton on a global scale and identify different species from space for the first time, including those that pose threats to other life forms.
Phytoplankton is found at the base of the marine food web. Without tiny organisms, this network would collapse, and the lack of global fisheries could be devastating for humans, according to NASA.
These microalgae use photosynthesis to absorb carbon dioxide and sunlight, producing oxygen and carbohydrates that nourish all kinds of marine life. According to NASA, phytoplankton began photosynthesizing more than 3 billion years ago, long before trees and plants, and contributed about 50% of all oxygen ever produced on Earth.
Although phytoplankton plays an important role in withdrawing carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere, some species can also be harmful. Algal blooms can be critical to marine food webs, such as in polar regions, but some blooms produce dangerous toxins that can spoil drinking water and disrupt entire ecosystems. Observations from PACE can help scientists understand which species are causing toxic blooms, track and monitor them over time, and determine how to prevent them from progressing.
St. “I would like to say that PACE is a mission that will use this unique perspective of space to study the smallest things that have the biggest impact in the oceans,” Germain said.
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