1/3/2024 0 Comments Nasa bbc newsHowever, the future of the OCO mission remains unclear at this stage. When the European Space Agency's Cryosat spacecraft was destroyed on launch in 2005, officials decided to re-build it the launch is scheduled for later in the year. Mr Brunschwyler said: "We have not had any issues with this fairing design in the past." The fairing is essentially the same as is used on that rocket. Taurus is based on Orbital's air-launched Pegasus rockets which have a long, proud history. And we won't fly Glory until we have that data known to us," said Nasa's launch director Chuck Dovale. "Our goal will be to find a root cause for the problem. Nasa's 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 from California in June. It is also designed to monitor atmospheric greenhouse gases. Gosat was launched in January from Tanegashima in Japan. "All eyes are now on the Japanese Gosat instrument to search for the missing carbon sink," said Dr Palmer.įortunately, Japan's Gosat mission is up and working However, scientists are unsure of the precise detail, with perhaps 20% of our CO2 going into a hitherto unrecognised sink. The remainder is mopped up by the land and oceans, which act as "sinks". Only about 50% of the carbon emitted from human sources - principally, from fossil fuel combustion - stays there. This would have helped scientists make more accurate predictions of future climate change. Scientists had hoped OCO would improve 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. Professor John Burrows, from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who is also collaborating on the mission, commented: "The UK and European science community is a major partner in OCO and the loss of this instrument is a serious setback." My thoughts go out to the science team that have dedicated the past seven years to building and testing the instrument." Dr Paul Palmer, a scientist from the University of Edinburgh, UK, who was collaborating on the mission, told BBC News: "I am bitterly disappointed about the loss of OCO.
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