BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Update:
NASA has delayed the PACE mission and will plan to launch on Wednesday because of unfavorable weather.
Now targeting Wednesday, February 7 for Falcon 9 to launch @NASA's PACE mission due to expected high winds at LZ-1 during booster recovery → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK pic.twitter.com/KcNhVMjbEN
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 6, 2024
SpaceX also said that the Dragon is standing down from Tuesday’s undocking from the Space Station.
Due to ongoing unfavorable weather off the coast of Florida, Dragon is standing down from Tuesday's undocking from the @Space_Station. The spacecraft and Ax-3 crew remain healthy, and teams will continue to monitor weather conditions for the next available undocking opportunity
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 6, 2024
Previous story:
NASA is about to launch a mission that will give us a better understanding of the earth’s ocean, atmosphere, and climate.
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Weather permitting, the agency’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) spacecraft is scheduled to liftoff atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 at 1:33 a.m. on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
According to NASA, the primary science instrument on PACE is the Ocean Color Instrument which will be capable of measuring the color of the ocean from ultraviolet to shortwave infrared.
The PACE spacecraft also has two polarimeters. The instruments are used to measure how the oscillation of sunlight within a geometric plane - known as its polarization - is changed by passing through clouds, aerosols, and the ocean.
Read: Winds to significantly crank up as main storm system passes
NASA’s Earth Science Division Director, Dr. Karen St. Germain, said today, “The work we’re doing with PACE and the work we do in our science is about making observations that help us understand the earth system, capturing that understanding in models and predictive tools, and putting that information into the hands of people who can use it to make better decisions every day.”
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