Tuesday, February 24, 2009

NASA global warming satellite lands in ocean

Must have been the huge concentrations of anthropogenic CO2 in the atmospere that brought her down...
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP)—A NASA satellite designed to track carbon dioxide emissions failed to reach orbit early Tuesday in a mishap that could jeopardize its mission to better understand climate change.

The Taurus XL rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory blasted off as planned at 1:55 a.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California's Central Coast.

Several minutes into the flight, launch managers declared a "contingency plan" after the payload fairing failed to separate from the launch vehicle. The fairing protects the spacecraft as the launch vehicle flies through the atmosphere.

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