How NASA's PACE satellite will monitor the entire Earth from space

Erin Urquhart, program manager for NASA Water Resources, explains the ultimate goals of the agency's epic PACE mission. Slated to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 6, PACE (Phytoplankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) is a satellite that'll investigate our planet in exquisite detail to improve things like weather forecasting, climate change action and global water contamination alerts.

Though it has a rather high pricepoint of over $900 million, which includes variables like operational costs and spacecraft supplies, PACE may also help strengthen the economy over time, Urquhart says.