Observatory, assembled!

The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) is integrated onto the PACE spacecraft in the cleanroom at Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The PACE satellite now has all three of its scientific instruments attached to the spacecraft, as the integration crew bolted the Ocean Color Instrument into place with its two polarimeter neighbors.

With the assembly completed Nov. 21 at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the team will now be working on the electronic and other connections between the different components of the satellite, then putting the complete observatory through tests to make sure it can work in the harsh environment of space.

By Kate Ramsayer, Science Writer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center