Plummeting Carbon Observatory

Satellite begins its unplanned journey to Antarctica.

As noted yesterday, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), a satellite designed to monitor the earth’s CO2 levels, failed to reach orbit.

Instead, the satellite (or its charred remains) ended up in the ocean, somewhere near Antarctica. The loss of the $278 million satellite remind us just how hard space exploration is—sometimes things just go wrong.

It reminds me of those early Atlas rockets which exploded upon takeoff, or shortly thereafter, in the early 1960s. Yet, John Glenn rode one of those rockets into orbit. Failures are costly and disappointing. But we all know that, despite setbacks, we must persevere.

NASA and Orbital Sciences Corporation (who designed and produced the Taurus XL launch vehicle) are investigating.