NASA is inviting reporters to see a space-based instrument that will track changes in the ozone layer, aerosols and other gases in our atmosphere before it ships to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin final preparations for launch.
The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on the International Space Station, or SAGE III on ISS, will be on display Wednesday, Nov. 18 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Media will have an opportunity to learn about SAGE III on ISS from the mission scientists and engineers. Media interested in participating in the event should contact Chris Rink at 757-864-6786, or by e-mail at chris.rink@nasa.gov for credentials and entry to the center.
The SAGE III instrument, developed at NASA Langley, will undergo final tests before being stowed aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, no earlier than June 2016.
The SAGE III instrument will be used to study ozone, a gas found in the upper atmosphere that acts as Earth’s sunscreen. More than 25 years ago, scientists realized Earth’s protective coat of ozone was thinning. Since then, the SAGE III family of instruments have made accurate measurements of the amount of ozone in Earth’s atmosphere.
SAGE III on ISS is a partnership between NASA Langley and the International Space Station Program Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, with support from the Earth Science Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Other mission partners include the Kennedy Space Center, Ball Aerospace Technologies Corporation, the European Space Agency, Thales Alenia Space-Italy, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama; SpaceX and Hampton University located in Hampton, Virginia.
For more information about SAGE III on ISS, visit:
http://sage.nasa.gov
