NASA Administrator Views Atmospheric Science Satellite, Meets Media in Arizona

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will visit an Orbital Sciences Corp. facility in Gilbert, Ariz. on Friday, Aug. 9, to view progress on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) satellite.

At 8:15 a.m. MST, Bolden and Orbital CEO David Thompson will tour the company’s satellite manufacturing and clean room facility where the OCO-2 satellite is under construction. They will speak with reporters at 9:15 a.m., following the tour.

Their remarks and media availability will not be broadcast live on NASA Television or the agency’s website. Media interested in participating must contact Barron Beneski at beneski.barron@orbital.com or 703-406-5228 for credentialing information no later than 5 p.m. EDT (3 p.m. MST) Thursday, Aug. 8.

OCO-2 will be NASA’s first dedicated Earth remote sensing satellite to study atmospheric carbon dioxide from space. OCO-2 will collect global measurements of carbon dioxide with the precision, resolution, and coverage needed to characterize sources and sinks on regional scales, and quantify carbon dioxide variability over the seasonal cycles annually. OCO-2 is targeted to launch next year.

For more information about Orbital Sciences Corporation, visit:
http://www.orbital.com

For more information about OCO-2, visit:
http://oco.jpl.nasa.gov/