NASA’s OCO Malfunction
21/02/09 00:17
By Angelica Guevara
NASA’s first mission to measure CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere failed when a part of the rocket failed to separate properly making the rocket too heavy to act against gravity and go into orbit.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was intended to help pinpoint the key locations on our planet's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed. John Brunschwyler, from Orbital Sciences Corporation, the rocket's manufacturer, stated: "Our whole team, at a very personal level, is very disappointed in the events of this morning." adding, "The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that's flying. So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration.”
NASA Scientists had hoped OCO would improve previous models of the Earth's climate and help researchers determine where the greenhouse gas is coming from and how much is being absorbed by forests and oceans. Information gathered from OCO would have aided scientists in making more accurate predictions of future climate change.
"All eyes are now on the Japanese Gosat instrument to search for the missing carbon sink," said Dr Palmer, a scientist from the University of Edinburgh in the UK, who was collaborating on the mission. Gosat was launched in January from Tanegashima in Japan. It is also designed to monitor atmospheric greenhouse gases.
However, NASA still has an ace up its sleeve. The Glory satellite, which is designed to measure carbon soot and other aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere, is due to launch on a Taurus XL, the smallest ground-launched rocket currently in use by the US space agency and rockets used in OCO, from California in June of 2009. "Our goal will be to find a root cause for the problem. And we won't fly Glory until we have that data known to us," said Nasa's launch director Chuck Dovale.
NASA’s first mission to measure CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere failed when a part of the rocket failed to separate properly making the rocket too heavy to act against gravity and go into orbit.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was intended to help pinpoint the key locations on our planet's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed. John Brunschwyler, from Orbital Sciences Corporation, the rocket's manufacturer, stated: "Our whole team, at a very personal level, is very disappointed in the events of this morning." adding, "The fairing has considerable weight relative to the portion of the vehicle that's flying. So when it separates off, you get a jump in acceleration. We did not have that jump in acceleration.”
NASA Scientists had hoped OCO would improve previous models of the Earth's climate and help researchers determine where the greenhouse gas is coming from and how much is being absorbed by forests and oceans. Information gathered from OCO would have aided scientists in making more accurate predictions of future climate change.
"All eyes are now on the Japanese Gosat instrument to search for the missing carbon sink," said Dr Palmer, a scientist from the University of Edinburgh in the UK, who was collaborating on the mission. Gosat was launched in January from Tanegashima in Japan. It is also designed to monitor atmospheric greenhouse gases.
However, NASA still has an ace up its sleeve. The Glory satellite, which is designed to measure carbon soot and other aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere, is due to launch on a Taurus XL, the smallest ground-launched rocket currently in use by the US space agency and rockets used in OCO, from California in June of 2009. "Our goal will be to find a root cause for the problem. And we won't fly Glory until we have that data known to us," said Nasa's launch director Chuck Dovale.