NASA Launches New Satellite to Study Oceans, Atmosphere

The American space agency NASA has launched a new satellite designed to closely study the world’s oceans and atmosphere.

NASA launched the PACE satellite on February 8. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried PACE into orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA confirmed the launch and reported ground controllers had successfully established contact with the satellite.

PACE stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem. The satellite will spend at least three years studying the environment from an orbit 676 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. NASA officials say PACE will map the entire world each day with two science instruments. A third instrument will collect monthly measurements. Scientists should start getting their first data within one or two months.

Jeremy Werdell is the Project Scientist for the PACE project, or mission. He told The Associated Press he sees the effort providing humans “an unprecedented view of our home planet.