Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory (GeoCarb)[1] was an intended NASA Venture-class Earth observation mission that was designed to measure the carbon cycle. Originally intended to be mounted on a commercial geostationary communication satellite operated by SES S.A.,[2] a lack of hosting opportunities drove NASA to seek a standalone spacecraft to carry GeoCarb.[3] GeoCarb was to be stationed over the Americas and make observations between 50° North and South latitudes. Its primary mission was to conduct observations of vegetation health and stress, as well as observe the processes that govern the carbon exchange of carbon dioxide, methane, and carbon monoxide between the land, atmosphere, and ocean.[4][5][6]
GeoCarb was a joint collaboration between NASA's Ames Research Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory; the University of Oklahoma; Colorado State University; the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center of Palo Alto, California; and SES Government Solutions (now SES Space & Defense) of Reston, Florida.[6]
On 29 November 2022, NASA announced the cancellation of development of the GeoCarb mission, citing cost overruns and the availability of other options to measure and observe greenhouse gases, like the EMIT instrument on the ISS and the upcoming Earth System Observatory.[7]
See also
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References
edit- ^ Buis, Alan (11 January 2018). "GeoCarb: A New View of Carbon Over the Americas". NASA. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ Crowell, Sean; Moore, Berrien (4–8 May 2020). The GeoCarb Mission. 22nd EGU General Assembly. ADS. Bibcode:2020EGUGA..2220213C. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ^ Foust, Jeff (16 February 2022). "NASA drops plans to fly Earth science instrument as commercial hosted payload". SpaceNews. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ Moore III, Berrien; Crowell, Sean (11 April 2017). "Watching the planet breathe: Studying Earth's carbon cycle from space". The Conversation. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
- ^ Dean, Signe (9 December 2016). "NASA Will Launch GeoCARB To Measure Our Planet's Carbon Cycle". National Geographic. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
- ^ a b Cole, Steve (6 December 2016). "NASA Announces First Geostationary Vegetation, Atmospheric Carbon Mission". NASA. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
- ^ "NASA to Cancel GeoCarb Mission, Expands Greenhouse Gas Portfolio". NASA (Press release). 29 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
Further reading
edit- Polonsky, I. N.; et al. (April 2014). "Performance of a geostationary mission, geoCARB, to measure CO2, CH4 and CO column-averaged concentrations". Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. 7 (4): 959–981. Bibcode:2014AMT.....7..959P. doi:10.5194/amt-7-959-2014.
- Moore, Berrien III; et al. (9 June 2016). The GeoCARB Mission (PDF). 12th International Workshop on Greenhouse Gas Measurements from Space. 7–9 June 2016. Kyoto, Japan. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
External links
edit- GeoCarb at NASA's Earth Observing System
- GeoCarb at World Meteorological Organization's OSCAR