PACE Mission

• NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) satellite was recently launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

ABOUT PACE

• PACE, NASA’s newest Earth-observing satellite, will help scientists better understand how climate change is affecting blooms of ocean phytoplankton.
  • Phytoplankton, also known as microalgae, is the foundation of the ocean’s food web.
  • They are the primary producers of energy, feeding everything from tiny zooplankton to whales that weigh multiple tons.
  • The smaller fish and ocean creatures that feed on phytoplankton are then eaten by bigger fish.
• PACE will also help understand the influence of particles in the air, like dust and smoke, on cloud formation as well as the warming and cooling of the planet.
• PACE was injected directed into its final orbit.
• PACE was placed in a sun-synchronous orbit, which means that it will always be synced to the same position relative to the Sun.
  • This also means that it will cross the planet’s equator at the same local time for each orbit.
  • This will be useful because the angle at which the sun illuminates the planet will remain constant throughout each image it takes.
• PACE has two fundamental science goals-
  • To extend key systematic ocean colour, aerosol, and cloud data records for Earth system and climate studies.
  • To address new and emerging science questions using its advanced instruments, surpassing the capabilities of previous and current missions.