Members of NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) team are photographed with the spacecraft on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, during a NASA-hosted media day inside a cleanroom at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Members of the media viewed NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024, at the Astrotech Space Operations facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Subject matter experts from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters in Washington, and the agency’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy provided an overview of the Earth observing science mission and answered questions about PACE. Data from the mission will help NASA understand how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide, measure key atmospheric variables associated with air quality and Earth’s climate, and monitor ocean health through the study of phytoplankton.
The opportunity provided media with a final look at the spacecraft before encapsulation in preparation for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff is targeted for Tuesday, Feb 6, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
After years of planning, building, and testing, 2024 is the PACE mission’s time to shine: Launch is slated for February and the team is eagerly awaiting a wealth of ocean- and atmosphere-related data to dig into soon after.
Several PACE scientists closed out 2023 by sharing this enthusiasm for the mission at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting December 11-15 in San Francisco, which drew more than 24,000 Earth and space scientists.
“This is such a profound quantum leap forward in terms of our ability to monitor our home planet,” Jeremy Werdell, PACE project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told a group gathered in front of NASA’s hyperwall screens.
PACE project scientist Jeremy Werdell outlines diverse areas of study that data from the mission could help answer questions for, at the NASA exhibit booth at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Dec. 12, 2023. Image credit: NASA/Kate Ramsayer
He showed a visualization highlighting Earth’s pulsing phytoplankton blooms, masses of aerosols drifting across oceans, ice sheets retreating, and more. It’s 20 years of our home planet breathing, Werdell said. Insights like these about Earth are one of NASA’s key accomplishments, he said, right up there with landing on the Moon.
In the conference’s poster hall, researchers presented their work to get ready for using the data. Amir Ibrahim, an ocean scientist with NASA Goddard, talked to colleagues about a tool he is using to simulate the data that the team will receive once PACE’s Ocean Color Instrument is up and running in orbit.
“We’re here to interact with the community who will use the data, and share with them the great capabilities OCI will offer across various disciplines,” Ibrahim said, standing in front of a poster filled with data visualizations and charts.
Data from PACE will touch on many aspects of the interconnected Earth system, including air quality and water quality, Natasha Sadoff, PACE applications deputy coordinator, told the audience at a presentation later that day. With aerosol products from the mission, people can help improve health advisories for wildfire smoke. Other data products will help notify resource managers of harmful algal blooms, wetland health indicators, or even oil spills and seeps.
Natasha Sadoff, PACE applications deputy coordinator, speaks before a crowd of Earth and space scientists at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in San Francisco, on Dec. 11, 2023. Image credit: NASA/Kate Ramsayer
She showed a global map of the locations of mission Early Adopters, people who are working with the mission ahead of launch to figure out how to use the satellite data to help address different questions across a wide range of disciplines. PACE will generate a new world of data, Sadoff said, and the mission welcomes others interested in exploring it.
“We’re always looking for new community members,” she said.
Header image caption: At a December 2023 conference, scientists presented findings about what the PACE mission and its instruments could accomplish after launch, scheduled for Feb. 6, 2023. Image credit: NASA/Kate Ramsayer
By Kate Ramsayer, Strategic Communications Lead for Earth Science Missions at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Otto Hasekamp is a senior scientist at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) and is the science lead for the SPEXOne polarimeter that will be on PACE.
What is your favorite atmospheric or oceanic related book or movie?
It’s not a book, but my favorite bit of writing about the atmosphere is actually a review article from 1974 – the year I was born! – on light scattering by atmospheric particles. It’s something that I’ve come back to through my whole career. It was written by Jim Hansen and Larry Travis from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and is sort of the cornerstone for polarimetry.
What are you most looking forward to during launch?
I’m really excited to see the satellite go up and then get the notification that everything has gone right with the satellite. It will really be a relief, and I’m looking forward to that green light.
What are you most looking forward to post-launch?
The commissioning phase where we check all the measurements and the instrument will be an exciting and intense period. I’m really looking forward to the first measurements of SPEXOne. On the somewhat longer term I look forward for our team to first real science results, that improve our understanding of aerosols and clouds.
What is your favorite color and why?
My favorite color is blue. Why? Well, of course when the sky is really clear it shows up very blue and I think that’s a great thing to look at.
Otto Hasekamp at the Berger Kogel, Austria, September 2023. Courtesy of Otto Hasekamp
Do you have a favorite type of cloud or atmospheric phenomenon?
The very, very thick clouds when there’s a thunderstorm coming that are sort of scary to see. It gives a special atmosphere.
What’s a fun fact about yourself, something that people might not know about you?
I like hiking in the mountains. Every year, for 25 years, I go hiking in the mountains with friends of mine and we hope to continue to do that for a long time. I’ve also crossed the Arctic Circle.
What advice would you give to aspiring scientists who are looking to get to where you are today?
Persist. Accept that things go slowly but persist and you will get where you want to be. I think that is maybe the most important one. Keep in mind the impacts of what you do, that’s another important one.
What is one catch-all statement describing the importance of SPEXOne?
It will help the understanding of the cooling effect that fine particulate matter has on the climate.
Header image caption: Otto Hasekamp presenting SPEXone at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) conference, Washington, D.C., October 2019. Courtesy of Otto Hasekamp
By Erica McNamee, Science Writer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Gary Davis is the mission systems engineer for PACE at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
What is your favorite ocean or atmospheric related book or movie?
I don’t know if it’s classified as a book, but I do like the Edgar Allan Poe story “A Descent Into the Maelstrom.” My favorite ocean movie? I really liked the movie “Master and Commander.” It’s not really an ocean movie, but a lot of it takes place on sailing ships, and they do have a naturalist in that movie who researches plants, insects, and other creatures.
What is your background?
I went to engineering school at the University of Virginia, got a bachelor’s degree in aerospace there, and then went to Princeton and got a master’s in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Essentially right out of school, I came to Goddard. I started off in the propulsion branch, and I worked on the TRMM mission – Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission – and then the MAP mission – Microwave Anisotropy Probe. That’s a mouthful. Then I worked on the Solar Dynamics Observatory, I worked on the MMS mission – Magnetospheric Multiscale, another mouthful – and then OSIRIS-REx and now PACE.
Gary with PACE Observatory in SCA Cleanroom. Image Credit: Dennis Henry
What is your role in PACE?
For PACE, I’m the mission systems engineer, so I’m the chief engineer on the project. I have a great team working with me to hopefully make sure it all works.
What are you most looking forward to during launch?
I am most looking forward to the moment when we get the telemetry that the spacecraft is alive and is stable and pointing the solar arrays at the sun. That’s the most critical part for us, is to make sure that the spacecraft has survived the rigors of launch, and that it knows what to do and is pointed in the right direction. So that’s a huge first step for us.
And once that’s all clear, what are you most looking forward to post-launch?
I want to see that first picture. The instrument folks call it first light, and I’m just really excited to see what PACE’s instruments can do. We’ve been testing them on the ground for all these years, but they’re not looking at anything really, just the laser light that we shine in or the ceiling of the cleanroom. When the Ocean Color Instrument is able to see the ocean and the polarimeters see the aerosols in the atmosphere, it will be amazing to get that first image.
Since OCI will be looking at all these different colors of the ocean, what is your favorite color and why?
That’s an easy one. My favorite color is British Racing Green and the reason why is I’m a Formula One fan and my favorite team (though they don’t race anymore) is Lotus. Way back in the day, most of their cars were painted British Racing Green, so I’ve always loved that color. It’s a dark green, and it’s very fast.
Gary with U.S. Marine Band Trombone Section. Learn more here. Image Credit: U.S. Marine Band
What advice would you give to aspiring engineers who want to someday work on NASA satellites?
The obvious answer that a lot of people give is “study this science or study that math or take that engineering class” and I kind of go in the opposite direction. For folks who want to work on NASA projects in science or engineering, they’re probably already very strong in science and engineering, so they don’t need any more of that. My advice would be to study and be trained as much as possible in human skills, leadership, team-building, and how to work as part of a team. Especially in today’s world, with so many virtual ways to communicate, your team might not be co-located with you. The better communication skills you have and the better you can get an entire team to work efficiently with you, that means a lot. For any big project, you need multiple people, and even with great people, nobody can do it by themselves – you need a whole team.
What’s a fun fact about yourself, something that a lot of people might not know?
Gary with other double bell friends at Tubachristmas Kennedy Center. Image Credit: A nice Tuba Player
I’m a trombone player, amateur. I did buy a euphonium so I can play it once a year in Tubachristmas, which is super fun because we get to play the melody which you don’t usually get as a low brass player. So, for one night a year, I’m like a quasi-tuba player and it’s really fun.
What’s one catch-all statement describing the importance of PACE?
PACE is going to teach us answers about the ocean that we haven’t even been able to ask the questions for yet. It’s going to show us stuff that we don’t even know that we don’t know yet.
Header image caption: Gary with PACE Observatory during PACE Family Day. Image Credit: Dennis Henry
By Erica McNamee, Science Writer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Ivona Cetinić is a biological oceanographer in the Ocean Ecology Lab at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
What is your favorite ocean or atmospheric related book or movie?
I’m a science fiction fan. Definitely “Abyss.” I don’t know why, but it’s been my favorite ever since I was a kid. I’m sure there are better ones, but it’s the only one that comes into my head movie wise. For a movie it was always, always, always “Abyss.”
What is your background? What do you do for PACE?
Phytoplankton cannot be hugged, but trees can ?. Image Credit: Mary Jane Perry
I am an oceanographer. I am interested in phytoplankton community structure and how it interacts with the environment, and also how the environment interacts with phytoplankton community structure. That’s how I ended up developing better tools to study phytoplankton.
For PACE, I am in charge of anything that has to do with biogeochemical processes in the oceans. Not just phytoplankton, but also the elements (such as carbon) and energy that phytoplankton move around, and other types of carbon, sediment, or organic material that float around the ocean. So, I take care of those algorithms and make sure that they look nice and pretty once we launch.
What are you most looking forward to during launch?
The launch itself, since I have never been to a single launch. So I’m excited for the countdown, and being surrounded by family, friends, and colleagues, and everybody enjoying that moment.
What are you most looking forward to post launch?
The first light images and the first data. I’m looking forward to getting to start playing with the data as soon as I can get my hands on it. We’ve been testing algorithms and I just want to get some real data!
Microphotographs of phytoplankton species Dictyocha speculum. Image credit: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dalhousie University, Rajashree Gouda
Do you have a favorite phytoplankton?
I shouldn’t have favorite children! But there is one that I really like a lot – it’s called Dictyocha speculum. It’s really cute. This “guy” looks like a little star, and to me looks a little bit like the star on top of the PACE logo.
Since PACE will be looking at all these different colors of the ocean, do you have a favorite color and why is it your favorite color?
I think you’ll see me in black all the time, which isn’t a color. It’s really hard to define color because the color is dependent on the thing as well as the light that is bouncing off that thing. And when something is black, that means that eats up everything, all the light. There’s nothing coming back towards your eyes, that’s what black is. I think it just kind of goes back to my teenage years everyone was comfortable person in black. But when it comes to real colors, probably purple, lilac, bluish.
What advice would you have for aspiring oceanographers who are interested in working for NASA?
Never give up. Never surrender. Really jump at any opportunity that opens up to you, just because you will never know where it’s going to lead. And it might not lead right to where you want to go, but it’s much better than sitting in one spot and thinking “Oh, what would be happening, where would I be if I didn’t take that opportunity?” Just try to jump on any opportunities out there. I was lucky to have the doors open every time and I was just jumping in everything that was available to me. I think that’s the route that got me to NASA.
Ivona carrying her drum during one of the performances of Batala Washington. Image Credit: Robert Werner
What is a fun fact about yourself? Something that people might not know about you?
I like music a lot, and I play many instruments. Currently, I play drums in an all-women, Afro-Brazilian band.
What is one-catch all statement describing the importance of PACE?
PACE will give us a view of the ocean and atmosphere that we have never had before. It opens up so many possibilities that we don’t even know about. I think PACE is going to give us so much more insight than we expect about the ocean and the atmosphere and interactions between them.
Header image caption: Ivona happily posing with the PACE observatory. Image Credit: Dennis Henry
By Erica McNamee, Science Writer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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.
Kirk Knobelspiesse hiking sand dunes near Swakopmund, Namibia, during the ORACLEs field campaign. Image Credit: Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer
What is your favorite atmospheric or ocean related book or movie?
There was a series on Netflix called “Connected” that had an episode called “Dust.” The general idea is that everything in the world is connected, so it started with dust that was generated in the Sahara Desert, specifically the Bodélé Depression. And that dust – which is really from a dry lakebed – gets lofted into the atmosphere and goes out over the oceans, and in the process interacts with clouds and potentially fertilizes the ocean. That dust makes it all the way to the Amazon basin where it may also be an important source of nutrients.
What is your background?
I am a photographer who got really into imaging of all kinds, which led me to remote sensing. I ended up doing work on remote sensing of Earth from space and worked on SeaWiFs, which was an early ocean color mission. I decided I need to go back to grad school and get a more quantitative education, so I got an applied math degree at Columbia University.
What are you most looking forward to during launch?
Earlier in my career I worked on a satellite that had a launch failure (Glory in 2011). So, during launch, I am going to shut myself in a closet and not learn any news until somebody tells me it’s all over. Because it makes me so nervous. A lot of people want to go and see the launch and that kind of thing. Not me, I’m going to stay away. Somebody will tell me when it’s all over.
What are you most looking forward to post-launch?
Kirk Knobelspiesse in his office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Image Credit: Kirk Knobelspiesse
I have a list of all the Science and Nature papers we’re hoping to write with PACE data. It’s ambitious, a little bit. But there are new types of observations that we will be making, that no other satellite will have done so far, at least not at a global scale. One aspect I’m interested in is just exploring the data, looking for basic things that will be useful for our understanding of aerosols and clouds and the climate in general.
I have some pet projects that I’ve always been interested in, for example a specific situation when aerosols are lofted above clouds. Aerosols are generally something that cools the climate because they reflect light. But if you have, say, a dark smoke aerosol on top of the cloud, it actually warms the climate, because it absorbs some of the energy that would have otherwise been reflected into space. So that’s something we’ll be able to do with PACE that we don’t really have great observations of now.
What is your favorite color and why?
I have a 10-year-old daughter, and favorite colors are very important to her and her friends. They’re always asking me what my favorite color is, and I say I can never answer them because how can you like one color without liking all the others?
Do you have a favorite type of cloud or weird atmospheric phenomena?
There’s also an optical phenomenon called glory. If you’re floating above a cloud and the Sun is behind, you look down at your shadow and you will see your shadow with a glory around it, which is like a circular rainbow around yourself. That’s one of my favorite optical phenomena.
What’s a fun fact about yourself? Something that a lot of people might not know about you?
Kirk Knobelspiesse working on the NASA P-3 during the ORACLES field campaign in São Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe. Image Credit: Andrzej Wasilewski
I’ve been to latitude zero, longitude zero, the point in the South Atlantic Ocean where the equator and prime meridian intersect. It was part of the ORACLES field campaign. There’s nothing special there. It’s just ocean – and I don’t mean to offend my oceanographer friends by saying it’s nothing special – but there was no pillar of fire or something like that.
What advice would you give to aspiring scientists looking to get where you are today?
Don’t pigeonhole yourself into one discipline or one topic of study. Not just computer science or physics or oceanography. They’re human constructs, sociological constructs, and they don’t have anything to do with nature, other than how we have organized ourselves. A lot of where I’ve found interesting and productive things to do have been at the boundary between disciplines, or learning from one discipline and applying that approach to another discipline. So, don’t tell yourself, “I can’t do something because I’m not trained to do that.” You can learn and you can train yourself, and don’t be afraid to go out on a limb and do something you don’t really know how to do.
What is one catch-all statement describing the importance of PACE?
We will be making use of things that people cannot see – the nature of light – to understand things that we can’t otherwise observe.
Header image caption: Kirk Knobelspiesse hiking at Rachel Carson Conservation Park in Brookeville, Md. Image Credit: Barbara Balestra
By Erica McNamee, Science Writer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Corrine Rojas is a scientific programmer in the ocean ecology lab at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center.
Before we dive into your work with PACE, what is your favorite ocean- or atmosphere-related book or movie?
I’m a big fan of ridiculous sci-fi/horror movies, and when it comes to the depths of the ocean, Sphere (1998) is one of my favorites in that genre. It’s a psychological thriller with everything you’d ever want – logistically impossible ocean research vessels, Hollywood science, aliens, spooky deep-sea fish, and even Queen Latifah!
A picture of Corrine Rojas and the Perseverance Rover’s twin on Earth, Optimism, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Optimism is a vehicle system test bed used for safety testing of moves and navigation scenarios on Earth before performing them on Mars. (more info here: https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/26356/improved-optimism/) Image Credit: Corrine Rojas
What is your background? What do you do for PACE?
Before PACE, I worked on a lunar mission called Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and then a couple of Mars missions including the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. And now I’m here, back down to Earth! I’m doing science operations for Earth missions that look at ocean ecology. And there is just so much life to track here! Doing science operations, I’m a liaison between the engineering team that will control the spacecraft and the scientists that will be monitoring the atmosphere and the ocean ecology. I have to have a background in both science and engineering. I moved to Maryland from Arizona, and before PACE I was working on the Jezero Delta on Mars, near where the Perseverance rover landed. So, I’m coming in from two different deserts, and I now live much closer to the ocean flora and fauna looking at the ocean from space for a living. I feel like a little alien!
What does programming and science operations entail?
As a programmer, I’m developing tools that will tell the spacecraft where to look. Once we’re in orbit, I’ll make sure that the science team gets their priority observations. For example, if someone’s out on a research cruise collecting samples in the open sea, we can time the spacecraft to take pictures overhead which will be a really good data point for them. We’re making sure those scientists are getting what they want and packaging these spacecraft commands in a way that also works with the mission operations schedule.
Corrine Rojas doing field work on Mauna Loa, Hawai’i using orbital data maps to understand the volcanic origins of the Jezero Crater floor on Mars that the Perseverance rover has been investigating. (more: https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/perseverance-rover/nasas-perseverance-makes-new-discoveries-in-mars-jezero-crater/) Image Credit: Corrine Rojas
What advice would you give other early career scientists or other people looking to get into science operations or finding their space in… well, space?
I didn’t always see myself working at NASA. I studied political science for a few years before coming into geography and that’s my academic background – modern day geography translated into programming.
But really, what has opened the door to having this as a career, is my love for maps. Creating and reading maps has always been a passion of mine. And that passion translated to creating maps of the surface of the Moon and the geology of Mars through NASA missions. I’m grateful that NASA needs a variety of disciplines to make a mission possible.
NASA has jobs that range from computer programmers like me, to mechanical engineers and scientists, but also writers and photographers. Even finance folks. It takes a lot of different disciplines to make a NASA mission work. And if you find something that you really enjoy, there’s probably going to be a related job that can take you to working on a mission.
A portrait of Corrine Rojas all bunny suited-up in front of the PACE spacecraft a few weeks before it shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Denny Henry
What are you most looking forward to post-launch?
That’s when my job really starts! After the spacecraft is commissioned, we’ll start commanding the sensors to take scientific observations. I’m looking forward to working with the world’s best oceanographers and atmospheric scientists, making sure that they’re getting the data they want. Hopefully we’ll have more answers regarding Earth sciences and climatology studies, especially aerosol studies since we don’t have a lot of that data. All this data will help anywhere from fisheries to disaster management and more. Everyone relying on that data is about to get a firehose of information, and I’m excited to see them dig into it.
At the gym on center at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center! Image Credit: Corrine Rojas
What is a fun fact about yourself? Something that people might not know about you?
I’m a newbie, but I weightlift pretty consistently. It’s just something that I enjoy doing that takes me away from the screen and into the present moment. I can just focus on the here and now, and my body getting really strong and staying healthy.
What is one catch-all statement describing the importance of PACE?
PACE is going to help us track the heartbeat of ocean, from a few meters below the sea surface all the way up to the top of the atmosphere.
A quick shot in front of the PACE spacecraft after volunteering for a PACE friends and family event. Image Credit: Corrine Rojas
Header image caption: Corrine Rojas during one of her many walks around Washington, D.C. during cherry blossom season. Image Credit: Corrine Rojas
Erica McNamee, Science Writer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky
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 stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem, is targeted to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early 2024, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission will help clarify how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide, improve upon NASA’s 20-plus years of global satellite observations of ocean biology and atmospheric aerosols, and continue key measurements related to air quality and 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 launch service for the PACE mission.
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 Lander, the PACE deputy project manager, said to a teenager waiting with his family to take a picture in front of the satellite.
The spacecraft and its instruments are the culmination of more than eight years of hard work, late nights, and early mornings, she said, and this was their chance to see the finished product right before it traveled to Florida to prep for launch.
“It’s really important for us to let everyone see the great work that their family members have been doing,” Lander said. “Everybody who’s coming through is very excited, even if they’ve been here before.”
At one of the stops on the PACE Friends and Family Day tour at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, guests saw the thermal vacuum chamber where the spacecraft was tested to ensure it could survive in the harsh environment of space. Image Credit: NASA/Kate Ramsayer
More than 550 people came to the PACE Friends and Family day Oct. 28, 2023, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where the spacecraft and its Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) were built. They toured the cleanroom where PACE was assembled and tested, including the giant thermal vacuum chamber where it was subjected to the temperature and pressure extremes of space.
They heard from scientists about what insights the satellite will provide about the ocean, atmosphere, and climate, and got to peer through a microscope to see some of the tiny phytoplankton that PACE will study from space.
“We’re showing off the science that we’re doing with PACE,” said Carina Poulin, a scientist and outreach specialist who was helping with hands-on activities during the event. There were puzzles of colorful ocean waters, a PACE-themed card matching game, cultures of green and yellow and pink phytoplankton and more.
The visitors were asking lots of great questions, Poulin said. “They all know someone who works with PACE, so they’re excited.”
Sabrina Sharmin, who started with the PACE team almost seven years ago and is now a systems engineer with OCI, introduced her enthusiastic guests to coworkers, and pointed out highlights of the cleanroom facility.
“This remarkable spacecraft is a result of countless hours of collaborative effort by the entire team, and I am so proud of all of us,” Sharmin said. “It’s a momentous occasion, being able to showcase the project to friends and family.
Header image caption: PACE engineer Sabrina Sharmin, in center in brown shirt, brought friends and family to see the spacecraft at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The anticipation and excitement within our team for launch is unparalleled,” she said. Image Credit: NASA/Kate Ramsayer
Kate Ramsayer, Strategic Communications Lead for Earth Science Missions at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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 objective? To verify the performance of the satellite once it’s launched and operational.
“This is the best way to simulate what PACE will experience in space,” said Craig Stevens, spacecraft systems lead. “Space is a vacuum, and the observatory is exposed to extreme temperatures. We must make sure PACE is ready for that environment.”
After months of round-the-clock shifts, numerous protocols, and a lot of team synergy, the mission completed its environmental testing in August, making it one step closer to launching in early January 2024.
“This proves the PACE observatory can withstand the rigorous thermal environment once it is launched and inserted into its operational environment,” said Mark Voyton, the mission project manager. “Completing the TVAC test is extremely significant, as it represents the last environmental test in our six-month environmental test campaign.”
An overview of the PACE satellite entering a thermal vacuum chamber. Before the doors closed, the whole observatory was run through additional testing. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Denny Henry
Getting to this final test was a challenge for team members given the time and resources TVAC can take.
Before things could begin, the satellite was placed in the thermal chamber for a week earlier in June at NASA Goddard for setup.
Before the door for testing was closed, each team that had worked on PACE verified their part of the observatory was in working order, said Daniel Powers, PACE’s thermal product development lead. Members of the control room were also standing by to ensure that when the power for thermal testing went on, things worked properly.
Once the chamber door closed, official testing lasted about 33 days.
Gary Davis, the missions systems engineer for PACE, examines the observatory before critical testing. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Denny Henry
“This is the final verification that everything is working on the spacecraft as expected. We take it to temperature extremes as well,” said Powers. “By taking it to the expected extreme environments we will see on orbit, we can see that we have everything setup and designed properly from a thermal perspective.”
The team worked three shifts – covering 24 hours each day, every day – to ensure operations ran on a strict timetable.
“You have a full marching army, and it’s all hands-on deck,” Powers said.
Members of the PACE team continue testing in Goddard’s TVAC chamber. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Denny Henry
PACE now has two more tests at ambient temperature and pressure, which complete the observatory’s post-environmental testing. Then the team begins preparing for the spacecraft’s journey to Florida and its launchpad.
Header image caption: The PACE observatory enters a thermal vacuum chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. It stayed in the chamber for 33 days of testing. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Denny Henry
By Sara Blumberg, NASA Oceans Communications Lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
