NASASpaceFlight.com Forum
Robotic Spacecraft (Astronomy, Planetary, Earth, Solar/Heliophysics) => Space Science Coverage => Topic started by: su27k on 11/30/2022 01:58 am
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https://spacenews.com/nasa-cancels-geocarb-greenhouse-gas-monitoring-mission/
NASA has canceled a greenhouse gas monitoring mission once intended to fly as a commercial hosted payload after the mission lost its ride to orbit and suffered severe cost overruns.
NASA announced Nov. 29 it was canceling GeoCarb, a mission the agency selected in 2016 to monitor carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane concentrations in the atmosphere over most of North and South America. GeoCarb was part of the Earth Ventures line of small Earth science missions with an original cost cap of about $170 million.
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https://spacenews.com/nasa-cancels-geocarb-greenhouse-gas-monitoring-mission/
[snip]
The SpaceNews article mentioned several plausible replacements; nasa.gov's own article mentioned these and one more.
From SpaceNews:
That includes extending operations of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 instrument on the International Space Station, performing more airborne observations and obtaining data from international and commercial partners. In September, NASA awarded a contract to Canadian company GHGSat, which operates several satellites that collect greenhouse gas data, as part of the agency’s Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition program.
NASA said it will also prioritize a greenhouse gas mission as the first in its new Earth System Explorers line of competed Earth science missions, a recommendation of the Earth science decadal survey.
From https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-cancel-geocarb-mission-expands-greenhouse-gas-portfolio (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-to-cancel-geocarb-mission-expands-greenhouse-gas-portfolio) :
Newer options to make key greenhouse gas measurements are emerging that were not previously available for the agency when considering GeoCarb. For example, NASA’s newest instrument that launched in July to the International Space Station, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), can measure methane.
EDIT: For anyone who doesn't know, the cost cap for an Earth Explorer mission is ~$350 million. Also, more information on how GeoCarb was supposed to work (before difficulties in finding a commercial satellite arrived) can be found here:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/geocarb-a-new-view-of-carbon-over-the-americas (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/geocarb-a-new-view-of-carbon-over-the-americas)
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Off topic but did Jeff Foust remove the comment section on Spacenews articles?
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Off topic but did Jeff Foust remove the comment section on Spacenews articles?
maybe Space News didn't pay their Disqus bill, or decided not to renew the service. There's no comment section on any SN articles, even the ones that I had commented on a day or so ago.
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Off topic but did Jeff Foust remove the comment section on Spacenews articles?
maybe Space News didn't pay their Disqus bill, or decided not to renew the service. There's no comment section on any SN articles, even the ones that I had commented on a day or so ago.
Based upon the comments I've seen on Space News, this is a positive development.
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Off topic but did Jeff Foust remove the comment section on Spacenews articles?
maybe Space News didn't pay their Disqus bill, or decided not to renew the service. There's no comment section on any SN articles, even the ones that I had commented on a day or so ago.
Based upon the comments I've seen on Space News, this is a positive development.
Given the recent-ish influx of people posting hot garbage takes, I can't say I disagree with that assessment, though it's unfortunate because there were a number of people who often made interesting or useful comments there (I humbly like to think of myself as among them).
I won't miss Gary or his plethora of sockpuppets, though.
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The earth science sensors tend to be complex and difficult to build. There is a history of big cost over runs in this area. A lot of them are new technology and therefore difficult to cost estimate.
A satellite system to monitor greenhouse gas emissions on a global basis would be extremely useful. That would allow independent verification of counties emissions without relying on them to self report.