OCO 2

Spacecraft nº:

US spacecraft nº:

Launch data: Designation  40059 / 14035A Launch date  02 Jul 2014 - 09:56 UT Launch site  Va, SLC-2W Launch vehicle  Delta-7320-10C Mission  Earth Science Earth orbit: Perigee / Apogee  702 x 703 km Eccentricity   Inclination  98.22° Period  98.82 min

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2) is an American environmental science satellite, a replacement for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory which was lost in a launch failure in 2009. The OCO-2 satellite was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, based around the LEOStar-2 bus. The spacecraft will be used to study carbon dioxide concentrations and distributions in the atmosphere. OCO-2 was ordered after the original OCO spacecraft failed to achieve orbit. During the first satellite's launch atop a Taurus-XL in February 2009, the payload fairing failed to separate from around the spacecraft and the rocket did not have sufficient power to enter orbit with its additional mass. Although a Taurus launch was initially contracted for the reflight, the launch contract was cancelled after the same malfunction occurred on the launch of the Glory satellite two years later. OCO-2 joined the A-train satellite constellation, becoming the sixth satellite in the group. Members of the A-train fly very close together in sun-synchronous orbit, to make nearly simultaneous measurements of Earth. A particularly short launch window of 30 seconds was necessary to achieve a proper position in the train.

Mission details:

• The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 was launched on Jul 2, 2014 into a 688 x 694 km x 98.2 deg 0135 LTDN orbit. It carries a near-IR spectrometer with three bands (two CO2 and one O2) to map global CO2 sources and sinks. It replaces OCO-1, lost in a launch failure in 2009.
• This was the first use of the semi-retired Delta II rocket since 2011.
  The Delta 2 second stage made two depletion burns, first to 604 x 3743 km and finally to 2375 x 10139 km.
• The OCO-2 satellite raised its orbit from 690 km to its operational height of 700 km by Aug 3, 2014.

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