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Additional Media

Launch of Mission to Study Earth's Atmosphere and Oceans (Official NASA Broadcast)

Our Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission will study what makes Earth so different from every other planet we study: life itself. Three-qua...

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches NASA's PACE-Payload

Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) is a NASA Earth-observing satellite mission that will continue and advance observations of global ocean color, biogeochemistry, and ecology, as well as...

Launch of PACE to Study Earth's Atmosphere and Ocean

Livestream on X

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Earth Science

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Space Launch Complex 40 Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA Probability: 95%
B1081 - Landing Zone 1

PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) is a NASA Earth observation satellite mission. It will make global ocean color measurements to provide extended data records on ocean ecology and global biogeochemistry (e.g., carbon cycle) along with polarimetry measurements to provide extended data records on clouds and aerosols.

Telemetry

Launch trajectory and telemetry simulations provided by Flight Club - a rocket launch simulator and orbital trajectory visualiser for all things space!

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Feb. 8, 2024, 6:53 a.m.

Launch success, spacecraft power positive.


Cosmic_Penguin • Feb. 8, 2024, 6:33 a.m.

Liftoff.


LL2 • Feb. 8, 2024, 5:54 a.m.

Livestream has started


Cosmic_Penguin • Feb. 8, 2024, 5:53 a.m.

Tweaked T-0.


Cosmic_Penguin • Feb. 6, 2024, 11:43 p.m.

Scrubbed for the day due to high winds.


Falcon 9

Family:
Configuration: Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

See Details
Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549.0 T
  • Thrust
    7607.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


B1081

Status: Active


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: August 26, 2023
Last Flight: March 26, 2026
Flights: 23
Landings Attempted: 23
Landings Successful: 23
Previous B1081 Flights

Landing Information

The Falcon 9 first stage B1081 has landed back at the launch site after its 4th flight.

Result: Successful Return to Launch Site landing at Landing Zone 1.

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 644 Failures: 15 Pending: 121

Agency Type:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

Related News

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Keeping Up with PACE: Summary of the 2025 PAC3 Meeting

Introduction Launched in Feb. 2024, NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission is a cornerstone of Earth system science designed to deepen our understanding of how these environmental and biological components come tog…

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By Air and by Sea: Validating NASA’s PACE Ocean Color Instrument

In autumn 2024, California’s Monterey Bay experienced an outsized phytoplankton bloom that attracted fish, dolphins, whales, seabirds, and – for a few weeks in October – scientists. A team from NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley…

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NASA’s PACE Mission Reveals a Year of Terrestrial Data on Plant Health

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Carissa Arillo: Testing Spacecraft, Penning the Owner’s Manuals

Flight operations engineer Carissa Arillo helped ensure one of the instruments on NASA’s PACE mission made it successfully through its prelaunch testing. She and her group also documented the work rigorously, to ensure the flight team had …

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Systems Engineer Noosha Haghani Prepped PACE for Space

Throughout the life cycles of missions, Goddard engineer Noosha Haghani has championed problem-solving and decision-making to get to flight-ready projects. Name: Noosha HaghaniTitle: Plankton Aerosol Clouds and Ecosystem (PACE) Deputy Miss…

Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Space Launch Complex 40


Falcon 9
Success
17 hours, 8 minutes ago
Starlink Group 10-44
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 3 hours ago
Transporter 16 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.


Kinetica 2
Success
1 day, 3 hours ago
Demo Flight (Qingzhou Prototype Spacecraft)
Launch Area 140 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

First test launch and mission of CAS Space’s Kinetica-2 rocket, with 3 spacecraft on board: * New March 02 (Qingzhou space station cargo resupply …


Electron
Success
3 days, 5 hours ago
Daughter Of The Stars (LEO-PNT Pathfinder A)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

The European Space Agency (ESA)'s LEO-PNT (Low Earth Orbit Positioning, Navigation and Timing) demonstrator mission will feature a 10-satellite const…


Long March 2C/YZ-1S
Success
4 days, 10 hours ago
Shiyan 33
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese satellite reported to be for "space environment research" purposes. Actual usage not known.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 15 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-17
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 25 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 2D
Success
5 days, 15 hours ago
SuperView Neo 2-05 & 06
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Commercial Synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites built by CAST for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd.


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
1 week ago
16 x Rassvet-3
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Payload identities uncertain. Batch of 16 Rassvet-3 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Russian Byuro-1440 (Bureau 1440) conste…


Smart Dragon 3
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
10 x CentiSpace-1
Haiyang offshore launch location - Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

Chinese commercial small satellites by Beijing-based company Future Navigation for providing GNSS augmentation signals services from LEO. They are pa…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Starlink Group 10-62
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.