Orbiting Carbon Observatory

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was a NASA satellite mission that was supposed to provide world-wide observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide from space. (CO2). It was lost in a launch failure on February 24, 2009, when the box of the Taurus rocket which was carrying it failed to come off during launch. The added weight of the box it was in prevented the satellite from reaching its intended speed and height. After that it fell back into the atmosphere and crashed into the Indian Ocean near Antarctica.