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For the first time in the last ten years, five NASA Earth science

missions are set to be launched into space in the same year,

opening new and improved remote eyes to monitor changing Earth.

The five launches, including two to the International Space Station

(ISS), are part of an active year for NASA Earth science researchers,

who also will conduct airborne campaigns to the poles and

hurricanes, develop advanced sensor technologies, and use

satellite data and analytical tools to improve natural hazard and

climate change preparedness.

The first NASA Earth science mission of 2014 is the Global

Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, a joint

satellite project with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

(JAXA). The GPM Core Observatory is scheduled to launch on Feb.

27 from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center on a Japanese H-IIA

rocket.

In July, NASA will launch a mission to advance our understanding

of carbon dioxide's role in climate change. The Orbiting Carbon

Observatory (OCO)-2, a replacement for a mission lost after a

launch vehicle failure in 2009, will make precise, global

measurements of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that is the

largest human-generated contributor to global warming. OCO-2

observations will be used to improve understanding of the natural

and human-induced sources of carbon dioxide and how these

emissions cycle through Earth's oceans, land and atmosphere.

With the November launch of NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive

(SMAP) mission, NASA will track Earth's water into one of its last

hiding places: the soil. SMAP will map Earth's soil moisture, and

provide precise indications of the soil's freeze-thaw state, to

improve understanding of the cycling of water, energy, and carbon.

Two Earth science missions will be sent to the International Space

Station this year to measure ocean winds, clouds, and aerosols,

marking NASA's first use of the orbiting laboratory as a 24/7

Earth-observing platform. The new instruments are the first of a

series that will observe Earth routinely from the orbiting

laboratory.