NASA Set To Launch Orbiting Carbon Observatory Tomorrow
NASA is set to launch an Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 to study atmospheric carbon dioxide from Space on Tuesday.
OCO-2 will launch at 5:56 a.m. ET from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base and the weather conditions are seemingly good thus far, according to NASA’s Twitter.
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What exactly will OCO-2 be doing up there?
According to NASA, quite a heavy task.
“OCO-2 will be collecting a great number of high-resolution measurements, which will provide a greater spatial distribution of CO2 over the entire globe, in short, a bigger, clearer, more complete picture of global CO2. These measurements will be combined with data from the ground-based network to provide scientists with the information that they need to better understand the processes that regulate atmospheric CO2 and its role in the carbon cycle. This enhanced understanding is essential for improving predictions of future atmospheric CO2 increases and its impact on Earth’s climate.’’
Ok, human speak: OCO-2 will be seeing how much carbon dioxide is actually in the atmosphere.
NASA reported that since the beginning of the industrial age, CO2 has “increased from 280 parts per million to over 390’’ and “the amount of CO2 added to the atmosphere through human activities, according to the Global Carbon Project (GCP), has been steadily climbing.’’
This is NASA’s first mission directly dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon, and there are quite a few fun facts:
1. “Humans release nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually… OCO-2’s measurements will show scientists where this carbon dioxide comes from (the sources on Earth) and where it is absorbed out of the atmosphere and stored (the sinks).’’
2. “OCO-2’s field of view is only about one square mile (three square kilometers) — smaller than New York City’s Central Park. Why so small? To dodge clouds.’’
3. “OCO-2 studies carbon dioxide by looking at the colors (or wavelengths) of sunlight that carbon dioxide absorbs.’’
4. “OCO-2 will collect 24 measurements every second, totaling about a million soundings every day.’’
5. “The observatory has just a 30-second opportunity to launch. The timing has to be so precise because OCO-2 will join the A-Train, a constellation of five other international Earth observing satellites that fly very close together to make nearly simultaneous measurements of our planet.’’
You can follow the launch online tomorrow morning.
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