OCO

Orbiting Carbon Observatory

past Mission

Type

Orbiter

Launch

Feb. 24, 2009

Target

Earth

Objective

Measure carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere

OCO was designed to make space-based observations of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, to better understand the characteristics of climate change. However, the mission failed soon after launch when the launch vehicle's fairing did not separate from the spacecraft.

OCO

The OCO mission was to provide space-based observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal human-initiated driver of climate change. This mission used mature technologies to address NASA's highest priority carbon cycle measurement requirement. The launch of OCO on February 24, 2009 was unsuccessful due to a launch vehicle failure. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) is planned for a launch in mid 2014.

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