Tag: Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA Set to Launch Four CubeSats to Space Station

This photograph shows two women working on a small spacecraft.
NASA engineers Julie Cox and Kate Gasaway install a solar panel on the BurstCube spacecraft in this image. The work was conducted in the CubeSat Lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Photo credit: NASA/Sophia Roberts

NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative is sending a group of four small satellites, called CubeSats, to the International Space Station as ELaNa 51 (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites). These small payloads have been developed by NASA and universities and will be deployed from low Earth orbit. 

Once circling Earth, the satellites will help demonstrate and mature technologies meant to improve solar power generation, detect gamma ray bursts, determine crop water usage, and measure root-zone soil and snowpack moisture levels. 

The suite of satellites will hitch a ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft set to deliver additional science, crew supplies, and hardware for the company’s 30th commercial resupply services mission for NASA. Liftoff is targeted for 4:55 p.m. EDT Thursday, March 21, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

First Cornhusker State CubeSat 

The first CubeSat from Nebraska is the Big Red Sat-1, which aims to investigate and improve the power production ability of solar cells. It is built by a team of middle and high school students mentored by University of Nebraska-Lincoln undergraduate engineering students. 

The satellite measuring 1U, or one unit, (about four inches cubed), will test out Perovskite cells, a new type of solar cell designed to enhance power production with and without direct exposure to sunlight. The team will compare the power production to that of typical cells, called gallium arsenide solar cells, also flying on the CubeSat. 

Detecting Gamma Ray Bursts 

BurstCube is a NASA-developed 6U CubeSat designed to search the sky for brief flashes of high-energy light such as gamma-ray bursts, solar flares, and other hard X-ray transients. 

Long and short gamma ray bursts are stellar remnants that can be the result of some of the universe’s most powerful explosions like the collapse or collision of massive stars, or when a neutron star collides with a black hole. BurstCube will use a new kind of compact, low-power silicon photomultiplier array to detect the elusive bursts of light. 

With the ability to detect these brief flashes from space, BurstCube can help alert other observatories to witness changes in the universe as they happen. Astronomers can also benefit from the information because these bursts are important sources for gravitational wave discoveries. 

Rooting Out Earth Water Sources from Space 

The SigNals of Opportunity P-band Investigation, or SNoOPI, is a technology demonstration CubeSat designed to improve the detection of moisture levels on a global scale of underground root-zone and within snowpacks. 

Root zone soil moisture and snow water equivalent play critical roles in the hydrologic cycle, impacting agricultural food production, water management, and weather phenomena. When scientists understand the amount of water in the soil, crop growth can be accurately forecasted, and irrigation can become more efficient. 

The 6U CubeSat is collaboratively developed by NASA, Purdue University in Indiana, Mississippi State University, and the United States Department of Agriculture.  

The fourth in the suite of small satellites, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s HyTI (Hyperspectral Thermal Imager) is also a 6U CubeSat designed to study water sources. 

Developed in partnership with NASA to map irrigated and rainfed cropland, HyTI is a pathfinder demonstration that packs the Hyperspectral Imager Instrument, temporal resolution thermal infrared imager focal plane technology, and high-performance onboard computing to help better understand crop water use and water productivity of major world crops. 

With these tools, HyTI can help develop a more detailed understanding of the movement, distribution, and availability of water and its variability over time and space, an important contribution to global food and water security issues.  

These payloads were selected through NASA’s CSLI, which provides U.S. educational institutions, nonprofits with an education/outreach component, informal educational institutions (museums and science centers), and NASA centers with access to space at a low cost. 

Once the CubeSat selections are made, NASA’s Launch Services Program works to pair them with a launch that is best suited to carry them as auxiliary payloads. 

For more information about NASA’s CSLI, visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/home/CubeSats_initiative 

Signal Acquired: NASA’s PACE Spacecraft Begins Its Science Mission

NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) 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.  

A full postlaunch assessment review to determine PACE’s readiness to move into the operational phase of its mission will be conducted in the coming weeks.  

Information collected throughout PACE’s mission will benefit society in the areas of ocean health, harmful algal bloom monitoring, ecological forecasting, and air quality. PACE also will contribute new global measurements of ocean color, cloud properties, and aerosols, which will be essential to understanding the global carbon cycle and ocean ecosystem responses to a changing climate.  

The PACE’s mission is designed to last at least three years, though the spacecraft is loaded with enough propellant to expand that timeline more than three times as long. 

To read more about the launch of the PACE mission, please visit: 

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-launches-new-climate-mission-to-study-ocean-atmosphere/

NASA’s PACE Spacecraft Separation

Photo credit: NASA Television

NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft has separated from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, beginning its science mission from sun-synchronous orbit about 420 miles above the Earth’s surface. 

The Falcon 9 Sticks Its Landing

Photo credit: NASA Television

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage has successfully landed at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Tonight’s mission marks the fourth completed flight for this Falcon 9.  

Coming Up: Falcon 9 Max Q, Main Engine Cutoff, and Stage Separation

Photo credit: NASA Television

A series of rapid events occurs after launch. After Max Q – the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket – the nine Merlin engines of the Falcon 9’s first stage will finish their burn and cut off during a phase called MECO or Main Engine Cutoff. 

Quickly after MECO, the stage separation sequence occurs. The second stage carrying NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft will continue on its journey to sun-synchronous orbit.  

Coming up next, the Falcon 9’s second stage engine ignites, and the protective payload fairings will be jettisoned to reveal NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft to the vacuum of space for the first time.   

Meanwhile, the first stage of the rocket begins its recovery journey for a vertical landing at SpaceX Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Landing should occur about eight and a half minutes after liftoff. 

Stay right here on the blog for more live mission coverage.  

Liftoff! NASA’s Earth Science Mission Launches Into Space Coast Sky

Photo credit: NASA Television

3, 2, 1 … LIFTOFF! A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:33 a.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 8.  

The next milestone is Max Q or maximum dynamic pressure – the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket.  

Continue following live coverage of launch milestones here on the blog, or watch live coverage on the NASA+ streaming service, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms, including social media. 

PACE is ‘Go’ for Launch From Florida

Photo credit: NASA Television

NASA’s senior launch manager, Tim Dunn, has just given NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission the “go” for launch!  

In the next few moments, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s nine Merlin engines will roar to life at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, sending the PACE spacecraft on the start of its journey to a sun-synchronous orbit to study the Earth’s atmosphere and ocean surface from space. 

Liftoff remains on track for 1:33 a.m. EST.

PACE Launch to Light Up South Florida Sky

The astronauts on board the Space Shuttle Columbia took this 70mm picture featuring part of the eastern sea board. The oblique view looks northward from South Florida to the southern Appalachians. Most of the southeastern United States appears in crisp, clear air in the wake of a cold front that has pushed well off the mainland. Only a few jet stream and low-level clouds remain over South Florida and Gulf Stream. Photo credit: NASA
The astronauts on board the Space Shuttle Columbia took this 70mm picture featuring part of the eastern sea board. The oblique view looks northward from South Florida to the southern Appalachians. Most of the southeastern United States appears in crisp, clear air in the wake of a cold front that has pushed well off the mainland. Only a few jet stream and low-level clouds remain over South Florida and Gulf Stream. Photo credit: NASA

When NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission launches at 1:33 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will follow a little used flight path, or trajectory. 

After liftoff, the rocket will head south along the Florida coastline during its powered flight to insert the spacecraft into a sun-synchronous orbit. That means the spacecraft will always be in the same “fixed” position relative to the Sun as it orbits over the Earth’s polar regions. 

Provided the nighttime skies over South Florida are clear, millions of residents will be able to look up and see the Falcon 9 overhead within minutes after launch. 

Meet NASA’s PACE Spacecraft, Science Instruments

Photo of PACE encapsulation inside (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings.
NASA and SpaceX technicians safely encapsulate NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo Credit: NASA Goddard/Denny Henry

As NASA and SpaceX teams continue to work toward liftoff of the agency’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket scheduled for 1:33 a.m. EST, here’s a look at some facts about the spacecraft and the science instruments on board: 

  • The PACE spacecraft stands about 10 feet tall and when fully fueled weighs 3,748 pounds. 
  • PACE’s propulsion system uses monopropellant hydrazine. A single tank holds about 518 pounds (235 kg) of hydrazine that feeds eight onboard thrusters. 
  • The spacecraft’s solar array is made of three panels. The array measures 100 inches by 173 inches and generates about 2.7 kilowatts of power at beginning of operation. 
  • The primary science instrument is the ocean color instrument. The instrument will monitor global phytoplankton distribution and record new observations of the color of the ocean which is determined by the interaction of phytoplankton and sunlight. 
  • PACE carries two other instruments called polarimeters which are contributed by a consortium based in the Netherlands and University of Maryland Baltimore County. 
  • The Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration (SPEXone) and the Hyper Angular Research Polarimeter (HARP2) will collect measurements on aerosols, small solid or liquid particles in the atmosphere, their relationship to cloud formations, and the interaction with sunlight to learn more about how they impact climate change. 
  • Together, the three instruments will contribute new and significant breakthroughs in aerosol-cloud-ocean research. 
  • PACE will operate in a sun-synchronous, polar orbit about 420 miles above the Earth’s surface. At an orbital velocity of 16,800 mph, it will orbit the Earth once every 98.3 minutes. 

Continue following live countdown coverage and upcoming launch milestones right here on the blog. 

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Earth Science Mission

Photo credit: NASA Television

NASA’s newest Earth-observing satellite called PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) is dedicated to climate science and helping researchers learn more about the relationship between the atmosphere and ocean. 

Satellite observation technology to study Earth’s atmosphere and oceans has been used for decades, but with a spectrometer and two polarimeters onboard, PACE will provide a major leap forward by providing new data on clouds, aerosols, and phytoplankton in our oceans. 

PACE will enable new views of clouds and aerosols within the atmosphere, and microscopic phytoplankton in the ocean that can help to reveal more about climate change’s impact on marine life and ocean health. 

Changes in phytoplankton populations can appear as different colors on the ocean surface and with PACE, these color variations will be more discernible. Phytoplankton also interact with microscopic airborne particles called aerosols. Clouds form in the atmosphere when water vapor condenses on these particles. Aerosols can sometimes be the result of wildfires and pollution. Often, the particles end up deposited on the ocean surface which can encourage phytoplankton blooms. 

Scientists will use data from PACE’s instruments to measure size, composition, and amount of aerosols present within the atmosphere. This information will help scientists better understand how clouds and aerosols interact and what that impact is on ocean health. Together, these puzzle pieces can reveal larger insights about climate change. 

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will follow a path along a southern polar trajectory and insert PACE into a sun-synchronous orbit. Liftoff is scheduled for 1:33 a.m. EST. 

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is responsible for the mission including the design and fabrication of the spacecraft and the development of its instruments. The agency’s Launch Services Program (LSP) based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida manages the launch service for the mission. 

PACE is LSP’s first launch to polar orbit from Florida’s Space Coast, and it’s the first for NASA since 1960. Other launches to polar orbit have been from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. SpaceX has launched to a polar orbit from Florida for other customers. 

To learn more about PACE, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pace 

Stay right here for continued blog coverage, or tune in to the launch broadcast on NASA Television, NASA+, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, as well as YouTube, X, Facebook, Twitch, and Daily Motion.