May 2, 2014

Image Caption: A truck convoy carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 spacecraft arrives at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base April 30. The observatory will undergo final tests and then be integrated atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for a planned July 1 launch. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A NASA spacecraft designed to make precise measurements of carbon dioxide in Earths atmosphere is at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., to begin final preparations for launch.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 arrived Wednesday at its launch site on Californias central coast after traveling from Orbital Sciences Corp.s Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Ariz. The spacecraft now will undergo final tests and then be integrated on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for a planned July 1 launch.

The observatory is NASAs first satellite mission dedicated to studying carbon dioxide, a critical component of Earths carbon cycle that is the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earths climate. It replaces a nearly identical spacecraft lost due to a rocket launch mishap in February 2009.

OCO-2 will provide a new tool for understanding both the sources of carbon dioxide emissions and the natural processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and how they are changing over time. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution more than 200 years ago, the burning of fossil fuels, as well as other human activities, have led to an unprecedented buildup in this greenhouse gas, which is now at its highest level in at least 800,000 years. Human activities have increased the level of carbon dioxide by more than 25 percent in just the past half century.

Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap the suns heat within Earths atmosphere, warming it and keeping it at habitable temperatures. However, scientists have concluded that increases in carbon dioxide resulting from human activities have thrown Earths natural carbon cycle off balance, increasing global temperatures and changing the planets climate.

While scientists understand carbon dioxide emissions resulting from burning fossil fuels and can estimate their quantity quite accurately, their understanding of carbon dioxide from other human-produced and natural sources is relatively less quantified. Atmospheric measurements collected at ground stations indicate less than half of the carbon dioxide humans emit into the atmosphere stays there. The rest is believed to be absorbed by the ocean and plants on land.

But the locations and identity of the natural sinks absorbing this carbon dioxide currently are not well understood. OCO-2 will help solve this critical scientific puzzle. Quantifying how the natural processes are helping remove carbon from the atmosphere will help scientists construct better models to predict how much carbon dioxide these sinks will be able to absorb in the future.

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NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Satellite Arrives At Launch Site