NASA launched a satellite to monitor greenhouse gas emissions

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) is trying to launch a satellite built to monitor carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ), the leading greenhouse gas that is believed to be the main cause of global warming.

>>>NASA is ready to launch satellites to measure CO2 on Earth's atmosphere

OCO-2 satellite is ready on launch pad - (Photo: NASA)

According to the original plan, the OCO-2 satellite will be launched on July 1 (local time) but delayed at the last minute after engineers discovered a technical problem. The satellite is expected to be re-launched late on July 2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Previously in 2009 and 2011, NASA had twice launched carbon tracking satellites but failed due to missile malfunctions.

According to the AP, this time NASA switched to using another missile, Delta 2, to launch the satellite but had a problem with the water delivery system to the launch pad, causing engineers to postpone OCO-2 launches for repairs.

Engineers say the satellite launch time is very short, only 30 seconds, and this time period needs to be accurately calculated so that the satellite can join the A-Train, a cluster of five Earth observation satellites. other.