Orbiting Carbon Observatory
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory was an Earth-observing mission designed to provide space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the principal human-driven greenhouse gas, and improve understanding of the global carbon cycle. Its Taurus XL launch on February 24, 2009 failed when the launch vehicle could not complete the planned ascent.
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Identity
- Aliases
- OCOOrbiting Carbon ObservatoryOrbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)
- Name
- Orbiting Carbon Observatory
- Status
- failed
Details
- Astronauts
- -
- Description
- NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory was an Earth-observing mission designed to provide space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the principal human-driven greenhouse gas, and improve understanding of the global carbon cycle. Its Taurus XL launch on February 24, 2009 failed when the launch vehicle could not complete the planned ascent.
- Destination
- Planned near-polar, sun-synchronous Earth orbit at approximately 705 km altitude and 98.2° inclination for global atmospheric carbon-dioxide measurements; the spacecraft failed to reach orbit after launch
- End Date
- 2009-02-24
- Launch Site
- Programs
- Start Date
- 2009-02-24
- Vehicle Families
Links
- Official Url
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/oco/
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 14, 2026 at 16:52:19 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 24, 2026 at 11:32:46 UTC
Other
- Affiliations
- -
- Space Stations
- -
- Vehicles