NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory Set For Launch Tomorrow

bughunter writes "The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) is slated for launch tomorrow, February 24, 2009. OCO is the first earth science observatory that will create a detailed map of atmospheric carbon dioxide sources and sinks around the globe. And not a moment too soon. Popular Mechanics has a concise article on the science that this mission will perform, and how it fits in with the existing 'A-train' of polar-orbiting earth observatories. JPL's page goes into more detail. And NASA's OCO Launch Blog will have continuous updates as liftoff approaches and the spacecraft reports in and checks out from 700km up."

Comments

Re:CO2 not a killer gas

[vlm]

290 ppm in pre-industrial times to 365 ppm today and that increase is NOT having a significant effect on climate.

Hmm. Lets think polar ice cap. 365 ppm / 290 ppm * 273 Celsius gives us 343 Celsius.

So, shouldn't the polar bears currently be living in lukewarm tea?

Another way to look at global warming is by time. During an ice age temperature warms or cools at a rate of X degrees per century. Some shriekers claim over a century global warming will make the temperature rise by Y degrees. What are X, Y, and X/Y. I'm unimpressed. The land I live on has been under a warm tropical sea giving nice limestone deposits and also more recently under two miles of ice giving crazy terrain. The future is not going to be any less inconsistent.