Sun Watching with SAGE III

NASA engineer Chip Holloway waits for the sun to align with the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE III) during a clean room "sun-look" test on March 4, 2013, at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. 

SAGE III passed this test, successfully locking onto the sun and completing a series of measurements.

Scientists are checking SAGE III in preparation for its trip to the International Space Station, set for late 2014 or early 2015. 

Like its predecessors SAGE I and II, which collected aerosol data from 1979 to 2005, SAGE III will measure aerosols, ozone, water vapour and other gases to help scientists better understand Earth's atmosphere.

Photo Credit: NASA Langley/Sean Smith