NASA's newest satellite provides crucial data on climate change trends

Data from NASA'S newest Earth-observing satellite will provide insight into ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate.

We know NASA mostly for launching rockets and humans into outer space, but for about 60 years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has also played a vital role in understanding the spaceship humans call home-planet Earth.

Data from NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite will provide insight into ocean health, air quality, and the effects of a changing climate.

In the lead-up to Earth Day, which falls on April 22, NASA officials in Washington on Friday documented how climate change is affecting the planet, this time using data from a program that watches for changes in the ocean and the air from space. Earth Day draws attention to negative effects human activity has on the environment and asks people to focus on things they can do to better care for the planet.

"That is our home, our planet. It's the only planet we have and we want to keep it," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Nelson, along with two officials from NASA's Earth Science division, showed some of the first pictures from the agency's PACE satellite. PACE stands for plankton, aerosol, cloud and ocean ecosystem. The instrument records data from all of the elements that make up the acronym to offer information on how humanity is affecting Earth's climate.