Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

How to watch NASA launch its newest ocean and atmosphere observation satellite tonight

By
Add as a preferred source on Google

Although NASA is most often associated with sending missions out to observe space, the agency also has a large number of space missions that turn the other way to observe Earth. The newest mission to observe Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, and to provide insight into how these interact with the changing climate, is set for launch early Eastern time on Tuesday, February 6 .

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

If you’d like to watch the launch of this new satellite, then NASA will be live-streaming the launch. We’ve got details on how to watch below.

Recommended Videos

What to expect from the launch

NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory is inspected and processed on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, Dec. 4, 2023.
NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory is inspected and processed on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on December 4, 2023. NASA/Kim Shiflett

The PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and be carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft will enter an orbit around Earth that always keeps the same position relative to the sun and is called a sun-synchronous orbit.

“An Earth-observing satellite generally wants the sun well overhead during observations,” explained Scott Patano, flight dynamics system development lead for PACE at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement. This orbit ensures that the measurements taken by the satellite will be consistent, as the sun will be in the same position for each measurement the satellite takes of Earth.

This orbit is also the reason for the late-night launch. By launching after midnight from Florida, the satellite can directly enter its final orbit, where it will cross the equator for the first time close to India at 1 p.m. local time.

That means it’s necessary to launch at a very particular time, but the weather only has a 40% chance of being favorable for a early Tuesday launch. However, if the weather prevents a launch at that time, then launching at the same time early on Wednesday is also possible.

How to watch the launch

The launch is scheduled for 1:33 a.m. ET on Tuesday, February 6 (10:33 p.m. PT on Monday, February 5). Coverage begins at 12:45 a.m. ET (9:45 p.m. PT on Monday). The coverage will be shown live on NASA TV, which you can watch in a variety of ways. You can watch on NASA’s YouTube channel using the video embedded at the top of this page.

If you have a smart TV or want to watch on your smartphone, then you can also watch via the NASA+ app, which is a free download. You can see options for viewing and find out more about downloading the app on the NASA TV webpage.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Former Space Writer
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Topics
NASA built the Roman Space Telescope to study dark matter, but it can also help protect Earth from killer asteroids
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope wasn't built to hunt asteroids, but it turns out to be great at it.
Nancy Grace Roman space telescope.

NASA is about to launch a telescope built to unlock some of the universe's biggest mysteries, and it turns out that same design could help protect Earth along the way.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center on August 30, 2026, with a primary mission focused on studying dark matter and dark energy - the invisible forces shaping galaxies and cosmic expansion. Researchers now say its unique design also makes it unexpectedly effective at spotting dangerous asteroids headed our way (via MIT Technology Review).

Read more
Space is becoming Bezos and Musk’s next data center site, and we have every reason to worry
The AI boom is coming for the night sky
How Vast's space station will look in orbit.

AI data centers already consume vast amounts of electricity and water on Earth, so Silicon Valley has begun looking somewhere considerably more spacious... literally.

Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, along with several other companies, have proposed enormous constellations of satellites designed to operate as orbital data centers. However, environmental groups and former space officials are now warning that putting them into orbit at the proposed scale could have severe consequences for Earth's atmosphere and the night sky.

Read more
The first possible exomoon is here, and it makes our Moon look hilariously tiny
Scientists may have found the first exomoon, except this one is the size of Jupiter
This artist’s concept depicts a potential volcanic moon between the exoplanet WASP-49 b, left, and its parent star. New evidence indicating that a massive sodium cloud observed near WASP-49 b is produced by neither the planet nor the star has prompted researchers to ask if its origin could be an exomoon.

We have already discovered more than 6,000 planets outside of our immediate neighborhood. Yet, finding a moon orbiting one of those distant worlds has proved considerably harder. Astronomers may finally have something close to the real deal, but this particular object stretches the word “moon” almost beyond recognition.

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, researchers detected strong evidence for a moon-like object in the CD-35 2722 system. Further observations are still necessary to confirm the discovery, but it could become the first confidently detected natural satellite outside our solar system. There is still one tiny complication though. This moon is apparently massive.

Read more