NASA launched its first spacecraft designed specifically for monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide, a heat trapping gas believed to be responsible for much of Earth's recent warming trend, according to a press release by the space agency.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory -2 satellite (OCO-2) launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 5:56 a.m. EDT (2:56 local time).
It was carried by a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket, according to the space agency.
Liftoff was originally set for July 1, but an issue with the launch pad's water system caused a delay.
NASA's satellite will measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere 24 times every second, to show where the gas is being produced and where it is being pulled out of the air.
"With the launch of this spacecraft, decision-makers and scientists will get a much better idea of the role of carbon dioxide in climate change, as OCO-2 measures this greenhouse gas globally and provides incredibly new insights into where and how carbon dioxide is moving into, and then out of, the atmosphere," Betsy Edwards, OCO-2 program executive at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a statement to reporters during a pre-launch press conference on June 30.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased about 280 parts per million (ppm) before the Industrial Revolution to 400 ppm today, according to NASA. This is the highest concentration in at least 800,000 years.
Most researchers agree that humanity is responsible for this increase.
In about six weeks, OCO-2 will work its way into a polar orbit 438 miles above Earth, joining five other Earth-observation satellites in the A-Train constellation.
"Ultimately, scientists predict that looking at these changes over time will give us patterns that are weeks or months or years long [and] that will help them to unravel the mysteries of the carbon cycle," Edwards said.
The $465-million mission has a lifetime of two years, but the spacecraft has enough fuel to keep operating for a lot longer than that, according to OCO-2 team members.
The original OCO mission cost "only" $275 million.
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