The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment, SAGE, is a series of instruments designed by NASA to observe stratospheric ozone, aerosols, and water vapor from space. In the mid-1980s, scientists realized there was a problem with Earth’s protective coat of ozone...it was thinning. The SAGE family of instruments was pivotal in making accurate measurements of the amount of ozone loss in Earth’s atmosphere and helped leaders around the world institute an international treaty banning products containing harmful chemicals that destroy stratospheric ozone. SAGE is a key part of NASA’s mission to provide crucial, long-term measurements that will help humans better understand and care for Earth’s atmosphere.
At the end of June, the commissioning of SAGE III/ISS was successfully completed. The project phase came to a close and the science mission officially started July 1. SAGE III continues to operate well on the space station and data product development is moving along. This single profile measurement was made over the western desert […]
On May 25, 2017, the SAGE III/ISS project conducted a successful Post-Launch Acceptance Review (PLAR), the final project lifecycle review. This marks the end of the “project” and the beginning of the science “mission.” Once commissioning is completed, the Science Directorate takes over SAGE III/ISS from Flight Projects Directorate.The mission operations team is continuing its […]
The Mission Operations team is continuing commissioning of the SAGE III/ISS Instrument Payload (IP) from the Flight Mission Support Center at NASA Langley Research Center. The team is receiving and processing preliminary data. Commissioning is progressing as planned and all systems are functioning well. The team was able to successfully acquire the first lunar events […]
The SAGE III instrument has been powered on and is collecting preliminary science data from the International Space Station. Prior to “first light”, the team completed activation of the instrument payload. On Wednesday, March 15, the SAGE III mission operations and engineering teams, along with on-site representatives of Thales Alenia Space – Italy (TAS-I) providing key […]
On Friday, March 10, 2017, the very important first step in activation of the SAGE III/ISS payload was completed successfully. At approximately 10:01 EST, 28V Operational Power was applied by the HOSC to the Interface Adapter Module (IAM) and initialization proceeded nominally. From there, the Solid State Memory Card (SSMC) downlink was initiated and performed […]
On Wednesday, March 8 around 6:30 p.m. EST the SAGE III Instrument Payload was successfully installed on the Nadir Viewing Platform at ELC-4 on the outside of the space station. The mission operations team confirmed that electricity was flowing and the survival heaters were on with good temperature readings. The next step is activation which […]
The Nadir Viewing Platform that will orient our instrument in the correct direction was installed Sunday evening, March 5, in its new home, the ELC-4 platform on the outside of the space station!
Overnight, Thursday, March 2 through Friday, March 3, the SAGE III Instrument Payload (IP) was successfully removed from the SpaceX Dragon trunk by the International Space Station robotics team based at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The IP was installed on the Enhanced ORU Temporary Platform or EOTP which is supplying survival power until the transfer […]
On Friday, December 9, the SAGE III and KSC teams completed final preparations at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Space Station Processing Facility for shipment of the SAGE III Instrument Payload and Nadir Viewing Platform to SpaceX on Monday, December 12. The SAGE III payloads and the Space Test Program- Houston (STP-H) 5 payload were […]
