PACE

PACE will operate in a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 676 km.

PACE will carry an Ocean Color Imager that operates from ultraviolet to shortwave infrared to enable studies of phytoplankton in the ocean.

HARP2 will feature improved resolution and sensor performance compared with HARP and will provide global coverage every two days from PACE’s sun-synchronous orbit.

PACE is scheduled to fly from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday, 2024-02-07 at 1:33 AM EST (06:33 UTC) during an instantaneous launch window.

PACE launched successfully into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The Falcon 9 launch of NASA’s PACE mission is targeted for liftoff at 1:33 a.m. EST on Thursday, 2024-02-08 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft is an Earth-observing satellite designed to deliver hyperspectral observations of phytoplankton and provide new data on clouds and aerosols.

The PACE satellite lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 2024-02-06.

Pace experienced a $4.8 billion budget overrun in the space station program during the Bush transition.

NASA sought to cancel PACE in its fiscal year 2018, 2019, and 2020 budget proposals.

NASA selected SpaceX in December 2022 to launch the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

NASA awarded SpaceX a contract on 2020-02-04 to launch the PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) Earth science mission on a Falcon 9 in 2022-12-01.

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, 2024-02-07 at 1:33 a.m. ET for a Falcon 9 launch of NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) mission to a sun-synchronous orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The PACE mission requested launching from Cape Canaveral because the spacecraft team from Goddard preferred a launch site closer to Goddard, and Florida is closer to Goddard than California.

The Falcon 9 first stage that launched PACE was flying its fourth mission and had previously launched Crew-7, CRS-29, and one Starlink mission.

The first-stage booster for the 2024-04-06 Vandenberg Starlink mission flew for the sixth time and had previously supported Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, and one prior Starlink mission.

The Falcon 9 first stage used for the EarthCARE launch was making its seventh flight and had previously supported Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, and two Starlink missions.

The first stage booster supporting the Group 9-5 mission is flying its ninth mission and previously launched Crew-7, CRS-29, NROL-186, EarthCARE, Transporter 10, PACE, and two Starlink missions.