[Pace-pax] PACE weekly commissioning update: 15-21 February 2024

Fri Feb 23 08:36:26 PST 2024

Happy Friday, all.  Here is this week’s commissioning update.  Enjoy.

PACE weekly commissioning update:  Launch through 21 February 2024

Summary

Spacecraft commissioning activities continued this week, with expected completion around the time of this writing (early morning 22 Feb 2024).  All systems continue to be GO.  The instrument commissioning phase of in-orbit checkout begins later today!  So, stay tuned for next week’s communication, which will provide the first update on instruments’ health and preliminary performances.  On a side note, it’s been wonderful to experience community excitement and enthusiasm for our mission at the AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting this week.  We cannot wait to see the discoveries you make with the forthcoming data streams.

Commissioning

The PACE Project has planned 60 days of in-orbit checkout.  Science data will start flowing publicly no later than the end of this commissioning period.

Accomplishments this week:

  *   Science calibration (lunar, solar) dry run slews
  *   Altitude adjustment burn
  *   Tilt system tests
  *   Inertial Reference Unit (IRU) calibration slews
  *   Ka band downlink adjustments

UPDATE SINCE THE TIME OF WRITING:  HARP2 engineering data has been transferred completely to and processed by the Science Data Segment and the OCI rotating telescope has started spinning!

Notable events planned for the next week:

  *   The beginning of instrument commissioning

Of course, we’re all super excited to have the instrument begin collecting data in the coming week(s)!  Our hope is to have science first light released roughly one month from now.

Other information

This update is being sent to a series of mailing lists, while also being posted online:

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In early March (TBD), we’ll only send this update to a single email list.  If you’d like to continue to receive email updates, become a member of our Community of Practice.  Sign up here:

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--
Dr. P. Jeremy Werdell (he/him)
PACE Project Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
240-285-3003

From: "Werdell, Jeremy (GSFC-6160)" <jeremy.werdell at nasa.gov>
Date: Friday, February 16, 2024 at 8:57 AM
To: "staff at seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov" <staff at seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov>, "pvst at oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov" <pvst at oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov>, "pace-st at oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov" <pace-st at oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov>, "pace-cop at oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov" <pace-cop at oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov>, "pace-pax at espo.nasa.gov" <pace-pax at espo.nasa.gov>
Cc: "Lorenzoni, Laura (HQ-DK000)" <laura.lorenzoni at nasa.gov>, "Turner, Woody (HQ-DK000)" <woody.turner at nasa.gov>, "Jephson, Erin Urquhart (HQ-DK000)" <erin.urquhart.jephson at nasa.gov>
Subject: PACE weekly commissioning update: Launch through 14 February 2024

Greetings, all.

Thinking that you’d all like to know what’s going on with the PACE observatory now that it’s on orbit, I plan to send weekly messages out each Friday during our commissioning period (= the next two months).  We’ll find more clever ways for longer-term communication.  Here is the first edition.  Enjoy and cheers!

J

Launch

Shortly before midnight local time on 7 Feb 2024, the weather report announced favorable upper-level winds and a very low likelihood of weather impacting PACE’s launch.  Over the next hour, the PACE team prepared and monitored the spacecraft and performed readiness polls.  At T-15 mins, the spacecraft was configured to internal power, and launch commenced as planned at 1:33am local time on 8 Feb 2024.  After two days of waiting, PACE was finally a GO.

The launch and ascent went off without issue, including fairing separation, first stage landing, and spacecraft separation.  Roughly 30 min after launch, the power team reported that PACE was power positive, and minutes later, the systems team confirmed that the solar array was fully deployed and pointing at the sun.  Over the course of the evening, the GPS was powered on and the Science Data Segment (SDS) at GSFC confirmed that it was received housekeeping files from the spacecraft.

Commissioning

The PACE Project has planned 60 days of in-orbit checkout.  Science data will start flowing publicly no later than the end of this commissioning period.

Accomplishments to date:

  *   Launch
  *   Verify spacecraft is stable and power-positive
  *   S-band (spacecraft telemetry and housekeeping) checkout
  *   GPS turn on
  *   Deploy solar arrays
  *   Release tilt launch locks
  *   Achieve nadir pointing
  *   Power on all three instruments
  *   Attitude control system (ACS) sensor and slews checkout
  *   Thrusters checkout
  *   Ka-band (science data) checkout

Notable events planned for the next week:

  *   Science calibration (lunar and solar) dry run slews
  *   Altitude and inclination burns
  *   Tilt system tests
  *   Other space craft slews
  *   The beginning of instrument commissioning

Of course, we’re all super excited to have the instrument begin collecting data in the coming week(s)!  Our hope is to have science first light released roughly one month from now.

Other information

Pictures have a thousand words, and we thought it’d be exciting to include a few.  But, there are too many amazing ones to choose from, so instead, I’ll direct you to an album:

https://images.nasa.gov/album/SpaceX_PACE

Finally, this update is being sent to a series of mailing lists, while also being posted online:

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In early March (TBD), we’ll only send this update to a single email list.  If you’d like to continue to receive email updates, become a member of our Community of Practice.  Sign up here:

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--
Dr. P. Jeremy Werdell (he/him)
PACE Project Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
240-285-3003

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