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PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem)

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

    A man stands centered in the image standing straight with his arms held out on either side of him. He is standing on a tan sand dune. The sky behind him is a light blue and gray color.

    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. What is your favorite atmospheric or ocean related book or movie? There was a series on Netflix …

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    NASA Climate Science Spacecraft Arrives ‘on PACE’ for Launch

    Technicians monitor movement as a crane hoists NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory spacecraft after being uncrated on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    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. Engineers and technicians arrived ahead of the spacecraft to prepare ground equipment for offloading and processing before fueling and final encapsulation. PACE, which …

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    Friends & Family Meet PACE

    A large group of people stand in the foreground of the image, facing away from the camera. They are facing a large metal chamber - the thermal vacuum chamber - which has several grey, metal tubes on the side. The chamber takes up the full top right corner of the image.

    With the towering structure of the spacecraft just behind clear plastic curtains, engineers, scientists, and others who worked on the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem mission recently had the chance to see the result of their hard work. "Your dad does amazing stuff for us. He goes and puts out fires all the time," Juli …

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    PACE Successfully Completes Key Environmental Test

    Centered in the screen is the observatory, covered in a reflective foil-like material. The observatory is being lowered into a dark, hollow, circular chamber, the TVAC testing chamber.

    Consider it the "mother of all tests." This summer, the PACE spacecraft (short for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) completed a critical phase of its launch journey: the thermal vacuum test (TVAC), where it was subjected to extreme temperatures and pressures in a specialized chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The …

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

    An artist created visual of the globe is centered in the picture. All land on the image appears as a gray color, while the ocean is watercolored in shades of green, purple, and blue. The colors indicate the levels of chlorophyll in an area. Yellows and greens indicate higher levels, while purples and blues indicate lower levels.

    NASA researcher Joaquin Chaves calls it "ground truthing," even though land is nowhere in sight. This spring, Chaves boarded the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) research cruise for six weeks of sampling water and taking measurements as the ship traversed the Atlantic Ocean. His team, based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, uses …

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    NASA’s PACE Spacecraft Assembled, Advances Toward Launch

    Although PACE was formally authorized in 2015, its concept has been on the minds of NASA Earth scientists for over 21 years. In 2023, that concept is now an assembled spacecraft at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. This past month, the PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission advanced closer to launch, …

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