The Orbiting Carbon Observatory, whose sensors will measure carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, is scheduled to blast off at 4:51 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket.
A second attempt could be made about four minutes later.
Live NASA TV coverage begins at 3 a.m. EST, and you can watch it here on The Flame Trench. Click the image above to launch a viewer.
Weather was forecasted to be excellent, with a 100 percent chance of conditions favorable for launch, according to Air Force meteorologists.
That means it will be up to Orbital and NASA's Launch Services Program team, whose home base is Kennedy Space Center, to ensure that the launch vehicle and spacecraft are ready to fly. It's NASA's first mission as the primary customer for a Taurus, which has flown seven missions since 1994 - six successfully.
The four stage rocket stands 93-feet tall on its pad at Vandenberg's Launch Complex 576-E, a former Cold War missile silo in the 60s.
The 972-pound spacecraft should reach orbit in about 10 minutes, with spacecraft separation a few minutes later.
Once successfully positioned and checked out, the observatory will fly 438 miles above Earth in a constellation of six NASA environmental satellites called the "A-Train," because of their afternoon crossings of the equator.
The $273-million OCO mission will map places where carbon dioxide, or CO2, is released and absorbed, and show how concentrations change seasonally.
Scientists say human activities including the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have dramatically increased CO2 levels in recent decades.
But they can only account for about half of the CO2 that does not remain in the atmosphere.
NASA hopes the $273-million mission, expected to last at least two years, allows scientists to better understand the carbon cycle and to fill in gaps between monitoring stations spread around the planet.
That should help refine models of future CO2 build-up in the atmosphere and predictions about its global warming effect.
Here's some additional background material on the mission:
- Fact sheet
- Press kit
- Science guide
- Seminar: The role of the Earth in our carbon dioxide future
- Taurus fact sheet
IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the image of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory on launch pad 576-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The photo was taken Monday, less than 12 hours before its scheduled launch time of 4:51 a.m. EST today. Image credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation.
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