Tag: Goddard Space Flight Center

Teams Hold Flight Readiness Review for NASA’s PACE Mission

A SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairing with artwork of NASA's PACE mission.
NASA and SpaceX technicians safely encapsulate NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The fairing halves protect the spacecraft from aerodynamic pressure and heating during the ascent phase of launch. Photo credit: NASA Goddard/Katie Mellos

NASA, SpaceX, and PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission managers met today, Thursday, Feb. 1, to conduct a Flight Readiness Review at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During the review, teams provided an update on the mission status and certified the readiness to initiate final launch preparation activities.

Once launched, PACE will use three instruments called the Ocean Color Instrument, Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration, and the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter No.2 to collect data on clouds, aerosols, and phytoplankton growth that can determine ocean color. Measuring the color and amount of light will help scientists better understand the types and locations of microscopic algae, which are vital to the health of Earth’s oceans and its marine life. PACE will contribute to NASA’s more than 20 years of global satellite observations of ocean biology and key measurements related to air quality and climate.

Up next, SpaceX will roll the fully integrated Falcon 9 rocket carrying the encapsulated PACE spacecraft to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Once vertical, the launch team will perform final checkouts ahead of liftoff scheduled for no earlier than 1:33 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 6.

PACE Spacecraft Encapsulated in Payload Fairing

NASA's PACE spacecraft encapsulated in SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairing halves.
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. The fairing halves protect the spacecraft from aerodynamic pressure and heating during the ascent phase of launch. Photo credit: NASA/Katie Mellos

NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft is now safely encapsulated in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings. 

The fairing halves protect the spacecraft from aerodynamic pressure and heating during the ascent phase of launch. Approximately three minutes after liftoff, the halves are jettisoned and return to Earth. 

Upcoming milestones for PACE include payload integration to the Falcon 9 rocket ahead of the vehicle rolling out to the pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

PACE will extend and improve upon NASA’s more than 20 years of global satellite observations of our living ocean, atmospheric aerosols, and clouds from its destination in a sun-synchronous, polar orbit. Its instruments will observe and measure how ocean ecosystems interact with the atmosphere in a changing climate. 

The PACE project is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The agency’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, is responsible for managing the launch service for the PACE mission.  

Liftoff is targeted for no earlier than 1:33 a.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 6. 

Media Invited to Launch of NASA’s IXPE Mission

Media is invited to view the launch of NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), the first satellite mission dedicated to measuring the polarization of X-rays from a variety of cosmic sources.

IXPE is scheduled to launch
Dec. 9, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. It is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization.

Click here for credentialing information and to read the full media advisory.

NASA’s IXPE Spacecraft to Launch Dec. 9

Artist rendition of NASA's IXPE
An artist’s rendition of NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which is targeted to launch from Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 9, 2021.

NASA’s newest X-ray astronomy mission, Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), is scheduled to launch Dec. 9, 2021. IXPE will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. The launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy.

IXPE will study changes in the polarization of X-ray light through some of the universe’s most extreme sources, including black holes, dead stars known as pulsars, and more. Polarization contains clues to what those environments are like and helps scientists better understand these mysterious phenomena.

IXPE is NASA’s first mission dedicated to measuring X-ray polarization.

NASA selected IXPE as a Small Explorer mission in 2017. The IXPE project is a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama manages the IXPE mission. Ball Aerospace, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, manages spacecraft operations with support from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the Explorers Program for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.