Tuesday, June 24, 2014

“Carbon Copy” Spacecraft Ready to Track Global Carbon Dioxide

“Carbon Copy” Spacecraft Ready to Track Global Carbon Dioxide:

Artist's rendering of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2, one of five new NASA Earth science missions set to launch in 2014, and one of three managed by JPL. Image Credit:  NASA-JPL/Caltech

Artist’s conception of NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2, one of five new NASA Earth science missions set to launch in 2014, and one of three managed by JPL. Image Credit: NASA-JPL/Caltech
On February 24, 2009, the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) mission — designed to study the global fate of carbon dioxide — resulted in failure. Shortly after launch, the rocket nose didn’t separate as expected, and the satellite could not be released.

But now, a carbon copy of the original mission, called OCO-2 is slated to launch on July 1, 2014.

The original failure ended in “heartbreak. The entire mission was lost. We didn’t even have one problem to solve,” said OCO-2 Project Manager Ralph Basilio in a press conference earlier today. “On behalf of the entire team that worked on the original OCO mission, we’re excited about this opportunity … to finally be able to complete some unfinished business.”(...)
Read the rest of “Carbon Copy” Spacecraft Ready to Track Global Carbon Dioxide (654 words)


© Shannon Hall for Universe Today, 2014. |
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