At 1:33 a.m.

EST on Thursday, NASA's satellite mission to investigate air quality, ocean health,
and the consequences of climate change for the benefit of humanity successfully launched into
space.

The Plankton, Aerosol, Climate, Ocean Ecosystem satellite, or PACE, was launched from Cape
Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket using Space Launch
Complex 40. About five minutes after launch, NASA verified that the satellite had received a
signal, and the spacecraft was operating as planned.

"The PACE team deserves congratulations for a great launch. PACE will enable us to better
understand how particles in our atmosphere and oceans can reveal important elements
influencing global warming than ever before, according to NASA Administrator Bill
Nelson. "Missions like this are helping us answer critical questions about our changing climate
and supporting the Biden-Harris Administration's climate agenda."

The PACE mission will investigate the effects of small, frequently undetectable objects from
hundreds of miles above Earth, such as microscopic particles in the atmosphere and
microscopic life in water.

Researchers will be able to assess oceans and other water bodies throughout a range of
ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared light thanks to the satellite's hyperspectral ocean color
instrument. This will make it possible for researchers to monitor the phytoplankton's dispersion
and, for the first time, determine which communities of these organisms are present on a daily,
global scale from space. The information can be used by scientists and managers of coastal
resources to anticipate fishery health, monitor harmful algal blooms, and spot changes. in a
maritime setting.

Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter #2 and Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration are

the other two polarimeter instruments carried by the spaceship. These will pick up new data on
atmospheric aerosols, cloud characteristics, and local, regional, and global air quality, as well as
how sunlight interacts with atmospheric particles.

PACE will offer insights into the interactions between the ocean and atmosphere and how a
changing climate influences these interactions through the use of both the instrument and the
polarimeters.

"Our understanding of the ocean's role in the climate cycle will be profoundly advanced by
observations and scientific research from PACE," stated Karen St. Germain, director of NASA
Headquarters' Earth Science Division's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. When we
integrate PACE data, its value soars.

Sea levels are rising, there are marine heat waves, and there is a decline in biodiversity as a
result of climate change in the world's oceans. PACE will allow scientists to examine how
phytoplankton, which is essential to the global carbon cycle because it takes up carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere and transforms it into its cellular material, is affected by climate change.
Larger aquatic and planetary ecosystems that supply vital resources for food security, leisure,
and the economy are powered by these microscopic species.

It's thrilling to see this mission come to pass and to see it launched after 20 years of planning.
"I'm extremely grateful and proud of our PACE team," Jeremy Werdell, a PACE project scientist
at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, asserted.,"PACE presents a plethora of
intriguing options to leverage these amazing technologies in ways we hadn't yet imagined. It
really is a mission of exploration.

The mission's launch services were overseen by NASA's Launch Services Program, which is
housed at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA Goddard, which also
constructed and tested the spacecraft and the ocean color equipment, is in charge of
overseeing the PACE project. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County created and
constructed the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter #2, while a consortium lead by the
Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Airbus Defence, and Space Netherlands developed
and constructed the Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration.