WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th November, 2022) The US government has abandoned its original plan to measure the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through a GeoCarb - search for geological carbon - satellite, NASA announced in a press release on Tuesday.
"NASA ... intends to cancel development of its GeoCarb mission, and instead implement a plan for pursuing alternate options to measure and observe greenhouse gases," the release said.
Newer options to make key greenhouse gas measurements are emerging that were not previously available for the agency when considering GeoCarb, the release said.
"NASA's newest instrument that launched in July to the International Space Station, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), can measure methane," the release added.
Now NASA plans to expand its greenhouse gas observations by prioritizing a greenhouse gas mission as the first Earth System Explorers mission that will get data on greenhouse gases from international and commercial partners, extending the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 mission aboard the orbital laboratory and conducting extra airborne observations, according to the release.
