Got carbon? NASA to launch Orbiting Carbon Observatory

William Atkins
Friday, 20 February 2009 19:31

Science - Space

On February 24, 2009, NASA is set to launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), the first NASA spacecraft whose sole mission (and, it's an important one)  is to study atmospheric carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas contained within our global climate.


The spacecraft is scheduled to lift off via a dedicated Taurus XL rocket from Launch Pad SLC 576-E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base (California).

Liftoff is set for 1:51 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on Tuesday, February 24.

According to the February 19, 2009 NASA media brief NASA plans Orbiting Carbon Observatory post launch media briefing, its dedicated mission is to “map the global distribution of carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving climate changes, and study how that distribution changes over time.”

The 985-pound (447-kilogram, Earth-based mass) OCO spacecraft will orbit around the Earth in a 438-mile (705-kilometer) near-circular orbit, with a near-polar inclination of 98.2 degrees.

Its two-year mission, organized by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, in Pasadena, California) is dedicated to making the first global, space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂).
 
The instrument onboard the OCO spacecraft will make precise measurements in order to characterize carbon dioxide sources and sinks in localized areas around the world and to improve our understanding of the global carbon cycle.

Three high-resolution grating spectrometers make up the OCO instrument. The trio of spectrometers separates the light from the Sun into different colors (wavelengths)—or its spectrum. Actually, it separates the light it "sees" into more than one thousand different colors.

Page two explains further the function of the grating spectrometers, and how it will help us learn more about greenhouse gases and global climate change.