• ESA’s A-SCOPE mission employs Lasers to check CO2 levels

  • A-SCOPE.jpg
    Yesterday we reported about the NASA’s move to keep a tab on the CO2 levels and today its time to cover the European Space Agency, a.k.a., ESA’s strategy to do the same. The Europeans are working on laser based technology to measure accurate atmospheric CO2 levels. Here the A-SCOPE (Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth) space mission is the well-matched answer for the NASA’s Orbital Carbon Observatory (OCO). The scientists at ESA maintain that atmospheric column CO2 can be measured from space using two short laser pulses emitted at adjacent wavelengths. As a result of the pulses, CO2 is absorbed by one of the wavelengths. The other wavelength is used as a reference point, and the comparison between the two shows the total column concentration of CO2.


    If ESA’s A-SCOPE mission receives a nod to move forth then 2016 is the estimated launch schedule. Now that’s way behind the looming launch schedule of OCO in the 1st month of 2009.
    Source

    Posted in Topics:Awareness and Hype, Tags: , on December 9, 2008