TEMPO.CO, California - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced yesterday that the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) has successfully launched and reached the orbit. The satellite aims to investigate earth and carbon dioxide production.

The Space Reporter wrote that Wednesday’s launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, was NASA’s third attempt at getting a carbon-dioxide-monitoring craft in space. The original Orbiting Carbon Observatory, OCO-1, was launched in 2009, but it failed to make its first-stage separation. The second attempt, the Glory satellite, which was launched in 2011, had similar failure.

OCO-2's primary task is to investigate how the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide absorbs sunlight by tracking the carbon cycle’s sources and "sink"s. NASA scientists expect that the data will provide them with crucial information about the effects of carbon dioxide production on climate change and environment. "There’s quite a lot of urgency to see what we can get from a satellite like OCO-2," said Dr. David Crisp, the mission's science-team leader, in a statement released after the launch.

RINDU P. HESTYA | THE SPACE REPORTER