The newest weather satellite of NASA was launched into orbit on Thursday, providing unprecedented details of the world’s oceans and atmosphere.
SpaceX launched its $948 million Pace satellite before dawn, sending its Falcon rocket south across the Atlantic Ocean to achieve a rare polar orbit.
The satellite will spend at least three years studying the ocean and atmosphere 420 miles (676 kilometers) above the Earth. Two scientific instruments scan the Earth every day. The third instrument takes monthly measurements.
“It will be an unprecedented view of our home planet,” said project scientist Jeremy Wardell.
The observations will help scientists better forecast hurricanes and other severe weather, better understand how the Earth is changing as temperatures rise, and better predict when harmful algae blooms will occur.
NASA already has more than 20 Earth observation satellites and instruments in orbit. But Pace's findings should provide better insight into how atmospheric aerosols, such as pollutants and volcanic ash, interact with marine life such as algae and plankton.
“The pace will give us another dimension” to what other satellites observe, said Karen St. Germain, NASA's director of Earth Sciences.
PACE (short for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) is the most advanced mission ever launched to study marine biology.
Current Earth observation satellites can see in seven or eight colors, Werdel said. Pace displays 200 colors, allowing scientists to identify types of algae in the ocean and particles in the air.
Scientists expect to start collecting data within a month or two.
NASA is working with India to develop another advanced Earth observation satellite scheduled to launch this year. The project, named Nisar, will use radar to measure the effects of rising temperatures on the surfaces of glaciers and other melting ice.
NASA's Pace program survived despite efforts by the Trump administration to cancel it.
“It's been a long and strange journey, as they say,” Werdel said before the launch.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
