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UMBC celebrates 500 days of NASA PACE in space!

Mark your calendars! On August 20, 2025, the Earth and Space Institute is hosting PACE 500 on UMBC’s campus. This event celebrates 500 days of NASA’s Plankton Aerosol Cloud ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission in space, taking novel and global Earth sciences data for public benefit.

This is a big milestone for ESI and UMBC as well. ESI developed, launched, and now maintain the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP2), the first American imaging polarimeter in space capable of global coverage. Since launch, HARP2 has mapped the entire Earth over 200 times!

For event details, location, and parking, please visit PACE 500 here on the ESI website.

Click here for PACE 500 details! Learn more about the PACE mission!

Pre-launch calibration of HARP2 published in AMT!

Lead author Dr. Noah Sienkiewicz and ESI at NASA (see video).

New article by ESI graduate student Noah Sienkiewicz!

Sienkiewicz simulated and suggested suitable Earth observations for HARP CubeSat on-orbit.

ESI’s first retreat at the Maryland Science Center!

The group reflected on lessons learned while looking to the horizon.

AirHARP2 calibration in-prep for the PACE-PAX campaign!

ESI leads the calibration of the AirHARP2 suite at NASA GSFC.

Viewing the Earth with “Polarized Eyes”

Global HARP2 polarization data from April 19th 2024.

The Science of HARP2’s Cloudbows

Cloud properties are inferred from HARP2 data on 11 March 2024!

New aerosol information in HARP2 data!

Fine mode particles over Caribbean (capture on 21st-March 2024)

PACE HARP2 data publicly available now!

Every 2 days, HARP2 maps the entire Earth!

HARP2 Launch: 8 Feb 2024

Launch of the PACE satellite - Click to see the video.

Latest News

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ESI’s new thermal vacuum chamber is up and running

This past week, members of the Earth & Space Institute finished commissioning their new thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC), a breathtaking piece of engineering—literally! In the aerospace industry,...

Posted: August 8, 2025, 5:30 PM

For ESI undergraduate engineer Lars Sobieski, space hardware is both tech and art

Lars Sobieski, undergraduate mechanical engineer at the Earth and Space Institute, spends his day developing hardware and testing for future climate satellites. At ESI, he designs and fabricates...

Posted: July 22, 2025, 2:37 PM

It’s all fun and (addictive!) games for ESI software engineer Jet Thompson

On April 16, 2025, UMBC held its annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement Day (URCAD) conference. This event features research done by undergraduates from all majors under the...

Posted: July 2, 2025, 5:46 PM

ESI's Ana Prados' research featured in Spanish Science News article

A recent Remote Sensing paper by Ana Prados, "Key Governance Practices that Facilitate the Use of Remote Sensing Information for Wildfire Management: A Case Study in Spain," was featured in an...

Posted: June 17, 2025, 2:58 PM

Congratulations to Dr. Noah Sienkiewicz on his PhD defense!

On June 3, 2025, UMBC graduate student Noah Sienkiewicz successfully defended his dissertation in Atmospheric Physics, titled “Characterization of the HARP2 instrument and its Influences on the...

Posted: June 5, 2025, 11:30 AM

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