NASA's New Satellite Mission Will Study How Earth 'Breathes' In Space

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that it has selected a first-of-its-kind Earth science mission that will extend the nation's lead in measuring different greenhouse gasses and vegetation health from space. Experts believe that it will improve our understanding of the Earth's natural exchanges of carbon between the land, atmosphere and ocean.

According to Engadget, NASA and the University of Oklahoma have come together to study the Earth's breathing cycle. Although scientists are aware that the planet "breathes" carbon, they still do not have a detailed look at the breathing cycle. Experts from the two institutions have joined forces to launch a satellite mission, the Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory that will both study plant health as well as the exchange of key gasses (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane) between the land and the atmosphere.

The primary goals of the satellite mission, led by Berrien Moore of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, are to monitor plant health and vegetation stress throughout the Americas and to further explore the natural sources, sinks and exchange processes that control carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane in the atmosphere.

The scientists said that the satellite will float 22,000 miles above the equator and will analyze both solar-based fluorescence (a sign of changes in photosynthesis and plant stress) as well as gas levels in the atmosphere. It was also reported that at a ground resolution of 3 to 6 miles, the mission assures an "unprecedented detail" that will show just where carbon is coming from and where it is going.

"The GeoCARB mission breaks new ground for NASA's Earth science and applications programs," said Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "GeoCARB will provide important new measurements related to Earth's global natural carbon cycle, and will allow monitoring of vegetation health throughout North, Central and South America," NASA reported.

GeoCARB will measure daily the total concentration of carbon dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere with a horizontal ground resolution of 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 kilometers). GeoCARB also will measure solar-induced fluorescence, a signal related directly to changes in vegetation photosynthesis and plant stress.

There is no mention of a specific launch date. However, NASA expects to spend $166 million on the mission over the next five years. That is not a trivial amount, but it could pay dividends if it gives researchers a much better understanding of both Earth's natural rhythms and people's effect on them through deforestation.