NASA reschedules launch of carbon dioxide monitoring satellite

American space agency NASA is all set to launch a satellite designed to study atmospheric carbon dioxide on Wednesday, after it cancelled the lift off in the final minute of the countdown on Tuesday.

NASA said the countdown stopped at 46 seconds because of the failure of the launch pad water suppression system and added that the launch team has completed troubleshooting the snag. A valve that is part of the pulse suppression water system had failed to function properly during the final minutes of the launch on Monday, the space agency said.

“The failed valve has been replaced with a spare, and the system is being tested in preparation for Wednesday’s launch attempt,” it said.

The satellite named Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), which would be launched aboard a Delta II rocket, will produce the most detailed picture of natural sources of carbon dioxide, as well as their “sinks” – places on Earth’s surface where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, the space agency said in a statement.

“The observatory will study how these sources and sinks are distributed around the globe and how they change over time,” NASA said.