June 22, 2010

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 george h diller@nasa gov

Michael Curie Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 michael curie@nasa gov

CONTRACT RELEASE: C10-036

NASA AWARDS LAUNCH SERVICES CONTRACT FOR OCO-2 MISSION

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- NASA has selected Orbital Sciences Corp of Dulles, Va , to launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission The spacecraft will fly in February 2013 aboard a Taurus XL 3110 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California

The total cost of the OCO-2 launch services is approximately $70 million The estimated cost includes the task-ordered launch service for a Taurus XL 3110 rocket, plus additional services under other contracts for payload processing, OCO-2 mission-unique support, launch vehicle integration, and tracking, data and telemetry support

OCO-2 is NASA's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in the Earth's climate OCO-2 will provide the first complete picture of human and natural carbon dioxide sources and "sinks," the places where the gas is pulled out of the atmosphere and stored It will map the global geographic distribution of these sources and sinks and study their changes over time The OCO-2 spacecraft will replace OCO-1, lost during a launch vehicle failure in 2009

The OCO-2 project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch vehicle program management of the Taurus XL 3110 rocket

For more information about NASA and agency missions, visit:

http://www nasa gov

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