Mary-Louise Hoffman
An Orbital Sciences-built carbon tracker spacecraft has arrived at its final orbital position in the Afternoon Constellation, which comprises of multiple satellites designed to collect environmental data worldwide.
NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 completed nine orbit-raising maneuvers before reaching an operational orbit at the A-Train head that is located approximately 438 miles above Earth, Orbital Sciences said Tuesday.
“The OCO-2 mission has achieved all checkout objectives on or ahead of schedule since launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base just over a month ago,” said Joseph Bushman, an Orbital Sciences program manager.
“The post-launch operations, including the critical maneuvering of the satellite into the A-Train, have all gone very smoothly,†Bushman added.
Orbital and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory jointly tested the carbon-monitoring instrument onboard the spacecraft and gathered initial science data from the satellite.
