Capture Date: 2014-03-24T00:00:00Z
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – At Space Launch Complex 2 on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, workers prepare to hoist the fairing for NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 mission, or OCO-2, seen in the background, into the gantry’s environmental enclosure, or clean room, following the rollback of the mobile service tower. The fairing will protect OCO-2 during launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex 2 in July. The observatory will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and provide scientists with a better idea of the chemical compound’s impacts on climate change. Scientists will analyze this data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important atmospheric gas. To learn more about OCO-2, visit http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov. Photo credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin
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