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Inia Soto Ramos Studies Data from the Sea & Space

[12-Mar-24] Inia M. Soto Ramos is an associate researcher and one of PACE's data validation leads at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA

Marsha Gosselin Keeps PACE with the Budget

[05-Mar-24] Marsha Gosselin is the financial specialist for PACE at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA

Anita Arnoldt is a Team Player

[27-Feb-24] Anita Arnoldt is the electrical lead for PACE at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA

Amir Ibrahim Understands the Atmosphere to Study the Ocean

[20-Feb-24] Amir Ibrahim is the PACE project science lead for atmospheric correction at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA

People of PACE: Bridget Seegers Sails the Seas and Studies Them Too!

[13-Feb-24] Bridget Seegers is an oceanographer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and a team member for NASA's PACE mission. NASA

NASA Launches New Climate Mission to Study Ocean, Atmosphere

[08-Feb-24] NASA's satellite mission to study ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate for the benefit of humanity launched successfully into orbit at 1:33 a.m. EST Thursday. PACE launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA confirmed signal acquisition from the satellite about five minutes after launch, and the spacecraft is performing as expected. NASA

Signal Acquired: PACE Begins Its Science Mission

[08-Feb-24] NASA's PACE spacecraft has successfully made contact with ground stations back on Earth providing teams with early readings of its overall status, health, operation, and capabilities postlaunch. NASA

Weather Clears for PACE Launch

[07-Feb-24] Launch weather officers with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's 45th Weather Squadron predict 95% favorable weather conditions for the launch of NASA's PACE mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA

Weather Delays Launch of PACE

[06-Feb-24] NASA and SpaceX are standing down from the Tuesday, Feb. 6 launch of the agency's PACE mission due to unfavorable weather conditions. NASA and SpaceX are now targeting launch at 1:33 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 7, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA

Weather 40% Favorable for Tuesday PACE Mission Launch

[05-Feb-24] Launch weather officers with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's 45th Weather Squadron predict a 40% chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch of NASA's PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission at 1:33 a.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 6, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA

Why the PACE Team is Nocturnal This Week

[05-Feb-24] By launching south out of Florida on the dark side of the Earth, the math works out perfectly to get the satellite right into place on the approaching India as it crosses the equator for the first time on the daylight side of the Earth by 1:00 p.m. local time. NASA

Trivia All About NASA's Next Earth-Observing Satellite

[04-Feb-24] I'll take "All About PACE" for 300, please. While not exactly like "Jeopardy!", PACE trivia is just as fun — and often as challenging! NASA

Encapsulated PACE Spacecraft Transported to Launch Pad

[02-Feb-24] NASA's PACE spacecraft is one step closer to launch. Workers transported the spacecraft to SpaceX's hangar at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday, Feb. 1, for payload integration to the Falcon 9 rocket supporting this mission. NASA

PACE Spacecraft Encapsulated in Payload Fairing

[01-Feb-24] NASA's PACE spacecraft is now safely encapsulated in SpaceX's Falcon 9 payload fairings. NASA

Teams Hold Flight Readiness Review for NASA's PACE Mission

[01-Feb-24] NASA, SpaceX, and PACE mission managers met today, Thursday, Feb. 1, to conduct a Flight Readiness Review at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA

People of PACE: Fred Huemmrich Plants the Seeds of Inspiration

[30-Jan-24] Fred Huemmrich is a member of NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) science and applications team and a research professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. NASA

NASA's PACE Spacecraft Mated to Payload Adapter

[29-Jan-24] NASA and SpaceX technicians connected NASA's PACE spacecraft to the payload adapter on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida NASA

People of PACE: Jeroen Rietjens Followed His Passions to SPEXone and PACE

[23-Jan-24] Jeroen Rietjens is an instrument scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) and worked on the SPEXone polarimeter. NASA

People of PACE: Natasha Sadoff Connects PACE Data to Benefit Society

[16-Jan-24] Natasha Sadoff is the deputy coordinator for the applications program and PACE. NASA

NASA's PACE To Investigate Oceans, Atmosphere in Changing Climate

[11-Jan-24] Earth's oceans and atmosphere are changing as the planet warms. Some ocean waters become greener as more microscopic organisms bloom. NASA

NASA Hosts Media Viewing of Spacecraft to Study Oceans, Clouds

[09-Jan-24] Members of the media viewed NASA's PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations facility near the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA

People of PACE: Jeremy Werdell is the PACE Mission Scientific Conscience

[09-Jan-24] Jeremy Werdell is the project scientist for the PACE mission as well as a biological oceanographer in the Ocean Ecology Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland NASA

Colorful Swirls in the Gulf of Alaska

[08-Jan-24] Sediment floating in the Gulf of Alaska lent contrasting color to this otherwise winter-white scene acquired by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite on December 29, 2023. PACE will help scientists distinguish between sediment and phytoplankton by providing hyperspectral observations of ocean color. NASA

Setting the Stage for PACE at AGU

[03-Jan-24] After years of planning, building, and testing, 2024 is the PACE mission's time to shine: Launch is slated for February and the team is eagerly awaiting a wealth of ocean- and atmosphere-related data to dig into soon after. Several PACE scientists closed out 2023 by sharing this enthusiasm for the mission at the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting December 11-15 in San Francisco, which drew more than 24,000 Earth and space scientists. NASA

People of PACE: Otto Hasekamp Helps Scientists See Light in a New Light

[02-Jan-24] Otto Hasekamp is a senior scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) and is the science lead for the SPEXOne polarimeter that will be on PACE. NASA

People of PACE: Gary Davis Leads His Team Through Engineering Feats

[19-Dec-23] Gary Davis is the mission systems engineer for PACE at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA

People of PACE: Ivona Cetinić Studies Microscopic Organisms

[12-Dec-23] Ivona Cetinić is a biological oceanographer in the Ocean Ecology Lab at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA

NASA Invites Media to Launch of New Mission to Study Oceans, Clouds

[11-Dec-23] Media accreditation is open for the upcoming launch of NASA's PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud ocean Ecosystem) Earth observing science mission. NASA

People of PACE: Kirk Knobelspiesse Keeps His Eyes on the Skies

[05-Dec-23] Kirk Knobelspiesse is an atmospheric scientist and the project science team polarimeter lead for PACE at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. He is also the polarimeter instrument scientist for the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) constellation. NASA

NASA Remembers Trailblazing Astronaut, Scientist Mary Cleave

[29-Nov-23] Former SeaWiFS Project Manager and astronaut, Dr. Mary Cleave, has passed away. NASA

People of PACE: Corrine Rojas Helps Connect Science to Engineering and Back

[28-Nov-23] Corrine Rojas is a scientific programmer in the ocean ecology lab at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center. NASA

NASA Climate Science Spacecraft Arrives 'on PACE' for Launch

[20-Nov-23] NASA's PACE spacecraft completed its journey Tuesday, Nov. 14, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to the Astrotech Spacecraft Operations facility near the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA

Friends & Family Meet PACE

[16-Nov-23] Over 550 PACE friends and family met to say goodbye. NASA

PACE Successfully Completes Key Environmental Test

[06-Sep-23] This summer, the PACE spacecraft completed a critical phase of its launch journey. NASA

Six Weeks at Sea: NASA Scientists Double-Check Satellite Ocean Color Data

[10-Aug-23] NASA researcher Joaquin Chaves calls it "ground truthing," even though land is nowhere in sight. MORE

NASA's PACE Spacecraft Assembled, Advances Toward Launch

[04-Apr-23] NASA

The Journey of a Carbon Atom: From Space, NASA's PACE Mission Detects Carbon in the Sky, Land, and Sea

[22-Mar-23] NASA

Observatory, assembled!

[02-Dec-22] The PACE satellite now has all three of its scientific instruments attached to the spacecraft, as the integration crew bolted the Ocean Color Instrument into place with its two polarimeter neighbors. NASA

NASA's PACE Mission Undergoes Milestone Testing

[30-Nov-22] NASA's PACE mission, which will provide a major boost to scientists studying Earth's atmosphere and ocean health, completed a milestone test in October at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA

World Photo Day: Behind the Scenes with Goddard's Documentary Photographers

[19-Aug-22] From build to testing to launch, one figure is always present in the background capturing the story of each Goddard mission - the documentary photographer. In honor of #WorldPhotoDay, follow along as two NASA documentarians share what it's like to capture the story of Goddard's latest mission build, PACE. NASA

Dutch Aerosol Instrument SPEXone Mounted on NASA's Climate Satellite

[23-Jun-22] Over the past few weeks, a group of engineers from SRON, Airbus Netherlands and NASA has been working on installing the Dutch aerosol instrument SPEXone on NASA's PACE satellite. PACE will conduct measurements on oceans and aerosols to study for example the influence of particulates on the climate. It is scheduled for launch in 2024. On June 23rd the last screw is tightened, which officially completes the integration. MORE

Hear 'Sounds of the Sea' in Ocean Scientists' Music Project

[08-Jun-22] A PACE scientist and his brother have been developing an online program that merges ocean color data with musical notes. The goal is to give onlookers an immersive experience into the ocean imagery Goddard scientists study everyday in an effort to understand the complexities of a large, changing ecosystem. NASA

NASA-funded Study: Gulf of Maine's Phytoplankton Productivity Down 65%

[07-Jun-22] The Gulf of Maine is growing increasingly warm and salty, due to ocean currents pushing warm water into the gulf from the Northwest Atlantic, according to a new NASA-funded study. These temperature and salinity changes have led to a substantial decrease in the productivity of phytoplankton that serve as the basis of the marine food web. NASA

Vice President Harris Visits NASA to See Vital Climate Science Work

[05-Nov-21] The urgency of Earth science and climate studies took the spotlight Friday as Vice President Kamala Harris visited NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The vice president received a firsthand look at how the nation's space program studies climate change and provides crucial information to understand our planet's changes and their impacts on our lives. NASA

Five Ways NASA Helps With Shark Conservation

[14-Jul-21] NASA's Earth-observing satellites collect key information about sharks' habitat - the ocean. NASA's satellites measure the height of the ocean, track currents, monitor marine habitats, and oversee water quality events like harmful algal blooms. Our long-term data sets also help us understand how climate change is affecting the ocean and marine life. MORE

NASA Sees Our Ocean in Color for World Oceans Day

[08-Jun-21] For World Oceans Day, we invite you to learn more about how NASA studies the ocean with a series of online coloring interactives and downloadable coloring pages. MORE

PACE is Endorsed as Part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

[08-Jun-21] UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission announced the first Actions officially endorsed as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021-2030 (the 'Ocean Decade'). MORE

Tracking Carbon from the Ocean Surface to the Twilight Zone

[10-May-21] A seaward journey, supported by both NASA and the National Science Foundation, set sail in the northern Atlantic in early May - the sequel to a complementary expedition, co-funded by NSF, that took place in the northern Pacific in 2018. MORE

SPEXone is Good to Go!

[23-Feb-21] Yesterday, space research institute SRON briefly opened its digital doors for the media and the parties that have been collaborating over the past years on the new Dutch satellite instrument SPEXone. On behalf of the Dutch government, outgoing minister Ingrid van Engelshoven of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science was there to conduct a final inspection of the instrument before it is shipped off to NASA in the United States. MORE

Fleet of Robotic Probes will Monitor Global Warming's Impact on Microscopic Ocean Life

[29-Oct-20] A single drop of seawater holds millions of phytoplankton, a mix of algae, bacteria, and protocellular creatures. These photosynthesizing microbes pump out more than half of the planet's oxygen, while slowing climate change by capturing an estimated 25% of the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuels. But the scale of this vital chemistry is mostly a guess. Today the National Science Foundation announced it will spend $53 million to fund 500 new drifting floats in the first major expansion of the Argo array, a set of 4000 floats that tracks rising ocean temperatures. MORE

HARP named SmallSat Mission of the Year

[07-Aug-20] On August 6, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) named HARP the Small Satellite Mission of the Year. MORE

A Walk Through the Rainbow with PACE

[17-Jul-20] Why are there so many songs about rainbows? For NASA's upcoming Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission, or PACE, the colors of the rainbow - or, if you prefer, the visible wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum - are the key to unlocking a wealth of new data on skies and seas around the world. MORE

NASA Ocean Ecosystem Mission Preparing to Make Waves

[04-Jun-20] NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission, or PACE, has successfully passed its design reviews and moved into its construction and testing phase, preparing to advance the fields of global ocean and atmospheric science when it launches in 2023. MORE

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for PACE Mission

[06-Feb-20] NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, to provide launch services for the agency's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. MORE

Tiny NASA Satellite Will Soon See 'Rainbows' in Clouds

[28-Oct-19] NASA's next attempt to map invisible specks in the atmosphere that impact climate change and air quality started from a window seat over the Pacific. MORE

PACE User Feedback Survey

[05-Oct-19] A survey has been designed to discover how you plan to use PACE data in your work. Your answers will help NASA anticipate the scope of PACE science and applications as well as the socioeconomic impact of future PACE products. MORE

PACE-ing Herself: Collin Roesler Explores the Deep Sea

[04-Oct-19] For the past three years, Dr. Collin Roesler, Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science at Bowdoin College, has been studying how phytoplankton in the ocean capture and export carbon dioxide into deeper areas and remove the gas from the atmosphere as part of NASA's Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) mission. Now the project is going airborne. MORE

NASA Ocean Ecosystem Mission Moves Forward

[28-Aug-19] After passing a key review hurdle, NASA's newest mission to study the health of Earth's ocean ecosystems and atmosphere is ready to move from design to reality. MORE

Small Steps, Giant Leaps: Ocean-Atmosphere Understanding

[14-Aug-19] The PACE mission represents a leap forward in observing ocean color and will provide an unprecedented view of the ocean. Scheduled to launch in 2022, PACE will extend NASA's 20-plus year record of satellite observations of global ocean biology, aerosols and clouds. In this podcast, Kathleen McIntyre discusses the mission and her perspective as PACE Deputy Project Manager. MORE

Dutch Aerosol Instrument on NASA Earth Ecosystem Satellite Receives Green Light

[07-May-19] The newly developed Dutch space instrument for aerosol measurement SPEXone is awarded 7 million Euros from the Netherlands Space Office. This completes the funding that is needed for the production of the instrument. Onboard NASA satellite PACE (launch 2022), SPEXone will map the amount and properties of aerosols with unprecedented accuracy, providing new valuable data to climate scientists. MORE

PACE Science and Applications Team Research Opportunity

[15-Mar-19] The purpose of the NASA NSPIRES solicitation (NNH19ZDA001N-PACESAT) is to formulate a Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Science and Applications Team (SAT) for a three-year period (FY20-22). The team will encompass basic and applied research and applications, using data from precursors to OCI, HARP-2, and SPEXone. The PACE mission is to include an ocean color sensor and one or more aerosol/cloud polarimeters, in order to produce data to maintain a time series of critical climate and Earth system variables. MORE

ROSES-18 Amendment 67: New Opportunity in A.48 PACE System Vicarious Calibration

[25-Feb-19] ROSES-18 Amendment 67 presents a new opportunity in program element A.48, Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission System Vicarious Calibration. MORE

Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express Launches

[03-Dec-18] On Monday, December 3rd at 10:34 a.m. EST, SpaceX successfully launched Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express to a low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A series of six deployments occurred approximately 13 to 43 minutes after liftoff, after which Spaceflight began to command its own deployment sequences. MORE

Invasive Algal Blooms Discussed on SciTech Now

[24-Sep-18] Arabian Sea algal blooms are taking over the base of the food chain which could prove catastrophic for 120 million people living on the sea’s edge. Joaquim Goes, Research Professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York City joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss this growing problem on Public Broadcasting Systems' "SciTech Now." MORE

Expedition Probes Ocean's Smallest Organisms for Climate Answers

[08-Aug-18] Satellite images of phytoplankton blooms on the surface of the ocean often dazzle with their diverse colors, shades and shapes. But phytoplankton are more than just nature's watercolors: They play a key role in Earth's climate by removing heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. MORE

NASA's Ocean-Watching Mission Gets Jazzy, Colorful New Videos

[26-Jul-18] Four new videos showcase NASA's ocean-watching PACE mission with moving mosaics, stop-motion animation and jazz. The animations (which can also be viewed in the PACE video gallery) take on topics of biodiversity, harmful algal blooms, aerosols, and fisheries. MORE

NASA, NSF Plunge Into Ocean 'Twilight Zone' to Explore Ecosystem Carbon Flow

[18-Jun-18] A large multidisciplinary team of scientists, equipped with advanced underwater robotics and an array of analytical instrumentation, will set sail for the northeastern Pacific Ocean this August. The team's mission for NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) is to study the life and death of the small organisms that play a critical role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and in the ocean's carbon cycle. MORE

Improved Ocean Color Data Software is Released

[09-May-18] SeaDAS is a comprehensive software package for the processing, display, analysis, and quality control of ocean color data. Originally developed to support the SeaWiFS mission, it now supports most U.S. and international ocean color missions. A new release, Version 7.5, includes over 1700 code updates that have resulted in enhanced statistical tools, help features, and other improvements. SeaDAS is available from the Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center (OB.DAAC) at Goddard Space Flight Center. MORE

A Novel Approach to a Satellite Mission's Science Team

[12-Feb-18] The NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, with a target launch within the next 5 years, aims to make measurements that will advance ocean and atmospheric science and facilitate interdisciplinary studies involving the interaction of the atmosphere with ocean biological systems. Unique to this Earth science satellite project was the formation of a science team charged with a dual role: performing principal investigator (PI)-led peer-reviewed science relevant to specific aspects of PACE, as well as supporting the mission's overall formulation as a unified team. MORE

NASA Mission to Study Ocean Life Advances

[04-Aug-17] Following a key program review, the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, or PACE, mission is now entering its design phase. MORE

NASA Taking Stock of Phytoplankton Populations in the Pacific

[03-Feb-17] The microscopic size of phytoplankton, the plant-like organisms that live in the sunlit upper ocean, belies their importance in the global environment. They provide the food source for the zooplankton that ultimately feed larger animals ranging from small fish to whales. And like plants on land, phytoplankton use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow and thrive through photosynthesis, which ultimately releases oxygen into the ocean and atmosphere. MORE

NASA's Next Ocean Monitoring Spacecraft to be Built at Goddard

[29-Sep-16] The spacecraft for a new NASA satellite mission designed to monitor microscopic ocean life and its outsized impact on Earth's climate will be built at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. MORE

PACE Mission Will Uncover New Information About Health of Our Oceans

[19-Jul-16] NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission is a first-of-its-kind project that aims to answer key questions about the consequences of climate change on the health of our oceans and their relationship with airborne particles and clouds. PACE will use a wide spectrum of wavelengths from an "ocean color" instrument to provide scientists with this information. MORE

New NASA Mission to Study Ocean Color, Airborne Particles and Clouds

[13-Mar-15] NASA is beginning work on a new satellite mission that will extend critical climate measurements of Earth's oceans and atmosphere and advance studies of the impact of environmental changes on ocean health, fisheries and the carbon cycle. MORE