New NASA Observatory Set to Take On Carbon Conundrums

NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is in final preparations for a July launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Carbon dioxide is a critical component of Earth's carbon cycle and is the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission will provide a more complete, global picture of the human and natural sources of carbon dioxide as well as their "sinks," the places where carbon dioxide is pulled out of Earth's atmosphere and stored. This new tool will map the global geographic distribution of these sources and sinks and study their changes over time.