On Wednesday NASA successfully launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), a satellite that will track carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The two-year, $468 million mission will measure carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, including how the greenhouse gas is emitted and absorbed by forests, oceans, and soils.
OCO-2’s launch occurred five years after a rocket failure caused the original version of the satellite to plunge into the ocean.