PACE, NASA’s climate satellite, enters orbit to study the oceans and atmosphere

Joint mission STEPbelonging POT and company SpaceXentered orbit this Thursday to study oceans And atmosphere planets with a level of detail never seen before.

SpaceX launched the PACE satellite before dawn. Rocket Falcon heading south across the Atlantic to reach rare polar orbit

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The satellite will pass minimum three years study of the atmosphere and oceans at an altitude of 676 kilometers above sea level with daily analysis and monthly measurements.

“Unprecedented View”

“This will be an unprecedented view of our planet,” said project scientist Jeremy Verdell. Observations will help scientists improve forecasts hurricanes and other severe weather events, Earth changes in detail As the temperature rises and predict it’s better when bloomsfrom harmful algae.

NASA already has more than twenty Earth-observing satellites and instruments in orbit, but with Pace’s help it hopes to offer better understanding

from how do they interact among them atmospheric aerosolssuch as pollutants and volcanic ash, as well as sea ​​lifesuch as algae and plankton.

PACE (an acronym for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) is most advanced mission ever launched study ocean biology.

Current Earth observation satellites can see in seven or eight colors, Verdell said. STEP will register 200 colors this will allow scientists to identify different types of algae and types of particles in the air.

Scientists hope to start collecting data in one or two months.