NASA has a new satellite up that monitors the levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) is the first ever one of it’s kind to reach orbit. It can measure CO2 levels every 24 seconds and send data back with an accuracy down to 1 part per million. It comes by its numeric designation honestly as a second attempt. Five years back, the first Orbiting Carbon Observatory never made it into orbit. OCO-1 crashed shortly after take-off.
The new mission is expected to help scientists discover how or where carbon dioxide absorption occurs on land. It enables them to measure the affects of changing seasons, droughts and floods. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collects average daily readings of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory.