NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite, which measures carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, was scheduled to launch early Tuesday morning, but NASA scrubbed it at the least minute due to equipment failure.
The countdown was stopped 46 seconds before launch due to "a failure in the launch pad water flow,” according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
So disappointed that we didn't go. Same time same place tomorrow folks! #OCO2— NASA OCO-2 (@IamOCO2) July 1, 2014
NASA says it will try to launch again on Wednesday, pending the outcome of troubleshooting.
The satellite looks at wavelengths of sunlight, measuring the ones absorbed by carbon dioxide. OCO-2 could greatly advance our understanding of the carbon cycle at a time when the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, caused primarily by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, is at an all-time high.
Scientists know much about the carbon cycle, but key questions remain unanswered regarding the size of some of the major carbon sources and sinks. Humans release nearly 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually, with about half of that getting absorbed by the land and oceans, and half remaining in the atmosphere for centuries.
The first attempt to launch a similar satellite failed in 2009, and that satellite was lost.