eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
3The Idea: A Space Hunt for Carbon Dioxide Sinks
4Getting There: The Ride to Low Orbit
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will depart from Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on a Taurus XL 3110 launch vehicle. Manufactured by Orbital Sciences and developed under the sponsorship of DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the Taurus rocket carries small satellites into low-Earth orbit.
5Payload: Very Precise Spectrometers
6Vital Stats
7Mission Duration
The OCO will circle Earth, mapping the globe every 16 days from its near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit. The OCO will collect about 8 million measurements every 16 days for at least two years with the precision, resolution and coverage needed to characterize carbon dioxide’s global distribution. Depending on funding, NASA could extend the mission for another three years.
8The Neighborhood: Say Hello to the A-Train
The OCO will fly at an altitude of 438 miles. In a nearly north-south orbit track, the OCO will fly in a loose formation with the other Earth-observing satellites of NASA’s Afternoon Constellation—known as the A-Train—each of which monitors various aspects of the same region of the atmosphere at about the same time.