Tag: Goddard Space Flight Center

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. 

NASA Climate Science Spacecraft Arrives ‘on PACE’ for Launch

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.
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.