NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory spacecraft has been uncrated and is being prepared for launch at the Astrotech Spacecraft Operations facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Engineers and technicians arrived ahead of the spacecraft to prepare ground equipment for offloading and processing before fueling and final encapsulation. PACE is targeted to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early 2024, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission will help clarify how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide, improve upon NASA’s 20-plus years of global satellite observations of ocean biology and atmospheric aerosols, and continue key measurements related to air quality and climate. The PACE project is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, while the agency’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center is responsible for managing launch service for the PACE mission.
Thursday, November 30, 2023