* Astronomy

Orbiting Carbon Observatory Could Have Played Significant Role in Monitoring Emissions
Current methods for estimating greenhouse gas emissions have limitations that make it difficult to monitor CO2 emissions and verify an international climate treaty, says a new report from the National Research Council. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory, which failed to launch in February, would have offered proof that these emissions could be monitored from space, as well as provided baseline data on CO2 emission trends from cities and power plants.  NASA is expected to decide in the coming months whether to launch a replacement observatory.

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A NASA panel that investigated the unsuccessful Feb. 24 launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO, has completed its report.
NASA's OCO satellite to study atmospheric carbon dioxide launched aboard a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Feb. 24 at 4:55 a.m. EST, but it failed to reach orbit.

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Since the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) crashed into the ocean minutes after its 24 February launch, researchers at NASA and elsewhere have been working on how else they might get the data on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels that the mission was meant to collect.
Within a week of losing the satellite, NASA, which spent US$278 million and seven years developing OCO, put together a committee of two dozen climate scientists to weigh up various options.

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Vandenberg and NASA officials said the most recent West Coast launch experienced an anomaly minutes after the 1:55 a.m. take-off of a Taurus XL rocket equipped with NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite Feb. 24 from the 576th-E Space Launch Complex here.

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NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to reach orbit after its 4:55 a.m. EST liftoff Feb. 24 from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to separate. The fairing is a clamshell structure that encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere.

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Investigators are trying to determine what caused the launch failure that sent a $273 million satellite plummeting into the ocean near Antarctica Tuesday.
The failure was a major setback to efforts to enhance understanding of climate change.
Less than three minutes into a flight that blasted off from the central California coast at 4:55 a.m. EST, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite's protective nose cone did not break away as planned.

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More than a decade of work and planning by two Colorado State University scientists plunged into Antarctic waters Tuesday when a $240 million satellite failed to get into orbit.

"Sometimes, you forget how much risk there is in trying to get a delicate instrument into space by exploding a rocket off the Earth's surface" - Graeme Stephens, CSU distinguished professor.

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