Satellite to track climate change

Parker Leavitt | The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX -- The world's first satellite dedicated solely to tracking atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide is being developed at a Gilbert, Ariz., manufacturing facility, as NASA scientists move to make space the next frontier in the study of global climate change.

The satellite, estimated to cost about $468 million, promises to paint a more detailed picture of the environmental impact of global warming, including how forests and oceans are reacting to higher levels of CO2, scientists say.

"It's obvious that human emissions, particularly within the developing world, have been increasing at a staggering rate," said Michael Gunson, project scientist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

"It's going to affect all of us, for example, if we find that the response of the great rain forests in the Amazon, the Congo and Indonesia is very sensitive to climate change," Gunson said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization of more than 1,300 scientists, predicts Earth's temperature will rise by 2.5 to 10 degrees over the next century.

As a result, scientists expect snow-covered areas will continue contracting, permafrost will thaw and tropical cyclones will likely grow more intense. Rainfall patterns will likely shift as some areas experience drought and other places become more saturated.

Engineers at Orbital Sciences, a spacecraft and rocket manufacturer based in Dulles, Va., are currently testing the "Orbiting Carbon Observatory," or OCO-2 satellite, for NASA at a high-tech facility in Gilbert.

Tentatively scheduled for launch next July, OCO-2 will take about 200,000 samples of Earth's atmosphere each day, sifting through particles at a more precise level than other observation satellites, Gunson said.

The new satellite will operate from about 400 miles above the planet's surface to help scientists track the movement of CO2 from sources like automobiles and factories to absorption areas like forests and cold-water seas, Gunson said.

Combined with data from other satellites, OCO-2 will also help scientists track crop production, water resources and vegetation health, Gunson said.

"Along the way, we will naturally uncover information about the patterns of human emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere," he added.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut who commanded two space shuttle missions, on Friday toured the Gilbert facility to see the new satellite up close.

Flanked by Orbital Sciences CEO David Thompson and Gilbert Mayor John Lewis, Bolden expressed a sense of urgency in getting the satellite ready for launch.

"Ideally, the satellite should have been launched a long time ago," Bolden said. "This is not new. It has just become critical because we haven't done anything in the intervening time."

President Barack Obama, who nominated Bolden as NASA chief in 2009, has made climate change and Earth science a critical priority for the administration, Bolden said.

"Planetary science, heliophysics, everything else is really important, but if we don't get the Earth straight, none of that stuff is going to make any difference," Bolden said.

Bolden called on Congress to work with the White House to resolve concerns over the federal budget and the ongoing sequester, which he said makes it difficult for NASA to meet the nation's demands.

"We probably can't survive in the mode we're operating right now," Bolden said. "We have got to have the money to do the things the nation is demanding of us."

Bolden said it is time for people to look outside their own "bubble" and pay attention to global trends. Information collected by OCO-2 will be made available to the international community, he said.

"It's one big ocean, contrary to what people think," Bolden said. "What happens in the Pacific affects what happens in the Atlantic. What happens over New York affects what happens over Shanghai or Moscow.

"We don't live on a partitioned planet," Bolden said. "It's one big system, and if we don't get it right, we will destroy humanity."

Orbital Sciences has about 300 employees at its Gilbert facility, with about 40 currently working on the OCO-2 project.

Lewis called the NASA chief's visit a "historic" day for Gilbert, which he called the "satellite capital of the world."

In February, NASA's Landsat 8 satellite, built and tested in Gilbert, was launched into orbit on a mission to track the impact of environmental changes and natural disasters.

The satellite is designed to help government agencies monitor trends such as shrinking glaciers, crop production and deforestation.