NASA’s PACE satellite will shed light on Earth’s oceans

The year has kicked off with a bang for the space industry, with big missions launching and records being broken on a weekly basis.

This week, NASA’s PACE satellite was lifted to low Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The satellite has been compared to the James Webb Space Telescope, but it will point its instruments down towards Earth and into our oceans.

Separately, a Russian cosmonaut has broken the record for the longest time spent in space. It is a record that is likely to be broken increasingly often now that the world’s biggest space powers are working towards building colonies on the Moon and Mars.

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AEROSPACE ENGINEERING SPOTLIGHT

NASA’s PACE is a satellite that cost almost a billion dollars. It took off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:33 a.m. EST on Thursday, Feb. 8.

The satellite will operate from an orbit above the International Space Station and it will monitor the Earth’s oceans as well as its atmosphere. Essentially, it will analyze the many forms of carbon present on Earth in a way that has not been possible up to now.

By studying the oceans, PACE, which stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem, will shed light on a part of Earth that has often been compared to space due to its vastness as well as the mysteries it holds.

"The oceans are 70 percent of our planet," Karen St. Germain, director of NASA's Earth Science Division, said during a recent press briefing. "The impact the oceans have on our lives is enormous – and yet, the oceans are one of the least well-understood parts of the Earth."

In fact, it is believed that humanity has only explored roughly 5 percent of the Earth’s oceans, meaning it is a vast untapped frontier.

Rather than charting the oceans, though, the PACE mission will focus on analyzing carbon. For one, it will analyze phytoplankton, which are tiny creatures that exist on the ocean's surface and are essential to the food chain and the global carbon cycle.

The satellite will also observe clouds and aerosols, which are small particles suspended in the air that affect our air quality. In other words, PACE will give scientists a comprehensive view of the oceans and the atmosphere, meaning we will be better able to deal with the oncoming effects of climate change. Stay posted here for more updates from the mission.

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AERO BULLETIN

This week, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko set a new record by spending over 878 days in space aboard the International Space Station. This makes Kononenko the record holder for the longest time spent off Earth over several missions.

With NASA, Roscosmos, and other space agencies setting their sights on building Mars colonies, astronauts and cosmonauts are staying aboard the ISS for longer periods to help better understand the effects of long-term space travel. Here are some of the other astronauts and cosmonauts who broke notable records in space.

Gennady Padalka

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka spent 878 days, 11 hours, and 30 minutes aboard the ISS before retiring in 2017. He was the record holder for the most time spent in space before Kononenko took the crown.

Peggy Whitson

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson holds the US record for time spent in space. The American American biochemistry researcher spent a combined total of 675 days off Earth before retiring in 2018.

Valery Polyakov

Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov holds the single-flight duration record. The cosmonaut spent 438 consecutive days aboard Russia's Mir station between January 1994 and March 1995.

Frank Rubio

The US single-flight duration record is held by NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who spent 371 days aboard the ISS before coming back to Earth last year.

After breaking the record, Rubio said “for sure, this record will soon be broken again, [but it] is really significant in the sense that it teaches us that the human body can endure, it can adapt” as we push towards building a human presence on the Moon and Mars.

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