Current NASA Missions

Because the International Space Station (ISS) won't be complete until 2010, many of its current missions involve the ongoing construction and assembly of this massive, permanently manned space station. Missions focused on finishing building ISS involve creating, launching and connecting a series of 14 different modules, or self-sustaining units, to ISS. 
 
However, because over half of ISS' components will be assembled by the end of 2008, the three crew members currently onboard ISS are still able to conduct a variety of other research projects and associated missions that will help further our knowledge of ourselves, Earth and our surrounding universe. Similarly, NASA has a number of other missions, unrelated to ISS, currently planned or already in the works.
 
In this section, we will take a closer look at some of the missions and research projects NASA is currently conducting. Our articles will highlight the particular research methods and ultimate goals associated with each ongoing NASA mission.

Advanced Composition Explorer

The Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission is an ISS project meant to study the various types of solar and other galactic particles entering Earth's atmosphere and/or wandering through space. To effectively collect and observe these particles, the ACE contains six high-resolution sensors, as well as three monitoring scopes. These technologically advanced instruments make ACE anywhere from 10 to 1,000 times more effective than any other previous mission with similar goals.
 
While ISS itself remains in low Earth orbit, which is, at most, 2,000 km above the Earth's surface, ACE is, by contrast, roughly 1.5 million km away from Earth. In this area, ACE lies in the spot where the sun and Earth have an equal gravitational pull on the spacecraft, putting it in the prime location to collect all types of galactic samples.
 
By studying these samples, researchers hope to learn more about how galaxies and planets form. Understanding how they grow and evolve is another primary goal of the Advanced Composition Explorer Mission.

Aqua

Named for the Latin word for water, Aqua is a mission in which six different satellites (launched and in orbit since 2002) collect vast amounts of data on the Earth's waters, including water in vapor, solid or liquid form. Some of the details these satellites are measuring include:
 
  • temperature changes in the Earth's water, air and land masses
  • the concentration of organic material in oceans
  • water cycles.
As this mission continues, researchers hope to gain a greater understanding of the Earth's ozone. Measuring the impact of pollution and its relationship to climate changes are also goals of Aqua.

Suzaku

Also referred to as Astro-E2, Suzaku spacecraft is on a mission to learn more about the presence and role of X-rays in space. Although the Suzaku was originally equipped with a powerful X-ray Spectrometer (XRS), an X-ray Imaging Spectrometer and a Hard H-ray Detector, the XRS is currently inoperable because a series of complicated events caused the helium necessary for its operation to boil off into space.
 
As a result, researchers have sketched out a new plan for the Suzaku mission.

CALIPSO

CALIPSO, or "Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation," is a mission intended to enhance our understanding of how clouds and various other atmospheric particles affect our weather, climate and overall air quality. Both NASA and the French space agency CNES are working together in the CALIPSO mission.
 
Resources
 
Christian, Eric; Davis, Andrew (updated August 22, 2007). Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) Mission Overview. Retrieved February 14, 2008, from the ACE Web site.
 
NASA (2008). Current Missions. Retrieved February 14, 2008, from the NASA Web site.