NASA launches a satellite to map microscopic life on Earth

On Thursday (8), NASA launched a revolutionary new satellite. The PAECE mission took off at 1:33 a.m., 3:33 a.m. Brasilia time, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, from the US Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A revolutionary new satellite will provide an unprecedented view of Earth's microscopic marine life and tiny atmospheric particles.

The launch, which was scheduled to take place on Tuesday (6) morning, was postponed twice due to bad weather conditions at the launch site. But weather conditions were more than 95% favorable for the launch Thursday morning.

Scientists began devising a way to better understand how oceanic processes and the planet's atmosphere were shaped about 20 years ago, said Jeremy Werdel, PACE project scientist. The mission will shed light on whether aerosols and clouds, as well as phytoplankton in the ocean, serve as indicators of ocean health and global warming.

The three instruments on board PACE, including two polarimeters and a camera, will capture a rainbow of data at different wavelengths of light “allowing us to see things we couldn't see before,” said Karen St. Germain, director of the PACE Center. NASA Earth Sciences Division.