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 vapor and other gases to help scientists better understand Earth’s atmosphere.

For more information visit www.nasa.gov.

Photo Credit: NASA Langley/Sean Smith