NASA Announces Mission To Measure CO2 Levels In Earth's Atmosphere
- 10 years ago
Scientists at NASA, working with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are getting ready for the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory -2 mission, which will measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere. NASA officials have announced that the mission will launch on July 1st from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
"We are trying to think what's going to happen in 50 years. That's really what drives us to change our behavior." [Via NASA]
Scientists at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are getting ready for the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory -2 mission, which will measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA officials have announced that the mission will launch on July 1st from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 program executive Betsy Edwards is quoted as saying: “As we launch OCO-2, the data we provide will help our decision makers at both the local and federal levels to be better equipped to understand carbon dioxide’s role in climate change.”
The mission will be a repeat of the failed February 2009 mission that launched the original OCO on a Taurus rocket.
Shortly after the launch, when it was high above our planet’s surface, the nose cone of the rocket didn’t detach as planned, which meant there was too much weight onboard, causing the rocket to fall back down to Earth, costing NASA a reported 275 million dollars in losses.
Although the OCO-2 itself is virtually identical to the original, NASA scientists will be using a different kind of rocket to launch it into orbit, so they can avoid repeating the same problem.
"We are trying to think what's going to happen in 50 years. That's really what drives us to change our behavior." [Via NASA]
Scientists at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are getting ready for the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory -2 mission, which will measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA officials have announced that the mission will launch on July 1st from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 program executive Betsy Edwards is quoted as saying: “As we launch OCO-2, the data we provide will help our decision makers at both the local and federal levels to be better equipped to understand carbon dioxide’s role in climate change.”
The mission will be a repeat of the failed February 2009 mission that launched the original OCO on a Taurus rocket.
Shortly after the launch, when it was high above our planet’s surface, the nose cone of the rocket didn’t detach as planned, which meant there was too much weight onboard, causing the rocket to fall back down to Earth, costing NASA a reported 275 million dollars in losses.
Although the OCO-2 itself is virtually identical to the original, NASA scientists will be using a different kind of rocket to launch it into orbit, so they can avoid repeating the same problem.