Seems to me, NASA has spent more time crashing expensive machinery than progressing science. NASA needs an overhaul. Here's an update, Buzz Aldrin says NASA is rutterless.
National Geo: The rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) suffered a technical glitch early this morning that caused the satellite to crash into the ocean near Antarctica.
In development for nine years, the observatory was meant to orbit Earth and monitor global carbon dioxide emissions.
Data from the satellite would have helped researchers better understand distribution of the greenhouse gas, possibly improving climate models. (Get the facts on global warming.)
NASA officials are now calling the $270-million mission a total loss.
"Certainly for the science community, it's a huge disappointment," Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division in Washington, D.C., said this morning at a briefing.
"OCO was an important mission to measure important elements of the carbon cycle."
