Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2021)
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2017-07-01 to 2026-06-30
Current total value of award: $162829446
Description: GEOSTATIONARY CARBON CYCLE OBSERVATORY (GEOCARB) MISSION.  NASA HAS SELECTED A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND EARTH SCIENCE MISSION THAT WILL EXTEND OUR NATION'S LEAD IN MEASURING KEY GREENHOUSE GASES AND VEGETATION HEALTH FROM SPACE TO ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF EARTH'S NATURAL EXCHANGES OF CARBON BETWEEN THE LAND, ATMOSPHERE AND OCEAN. THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (PI)-LED MISSION WILL LAUNCH ON A COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE TO MAKE OBSERVATIONS OVER THE AMERICAS FROM AN ORBIT OF APPROXIMATELY 22,000 MILES (35,400 KILOMETERS) ABOVE THE EQUATOR. THE MISSION WAS COMPETITIVELY SELECTED FROM 15 PROPOSALS SUBMITTED TO THE AGENCY'S SECOND EARTH VENTURE - MISSION ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY FOR SMALL ORBITAL INVESTIGATIONS OF THE EARTH SYSTEM.  THE PRIMARY GOALS OF THE GEOCARB MISSION ARE TO MONITOR PLANT HEALTH AND VEGETATION STRESS THROUGHOUT THE AMERICAS, TO PROBE, IN UNPRECEDENTED DETAIL, THE NATURAL SOURCES, SINKS AND EXCHANGE PROCESSES THAT CONTROL CARBON DIOXIDE, CARBON MONOXIDE AND METHANE IN THE ATMOSPHERE, AND TO PROVIDE OBSERVATIONS AND DEMONSTRATE METHODS TO REALIZE A TRANSFORMATIONAL ADVANCE IN THE SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE.  THE GEOCARB MISSION, A CATEGORY 3 MISSION (PER NPR 7120.5E, NASA SPACE FLIGHT PROGRAM AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS) WITH A CLASS D PAYLOAD (PER NPR 8705.4, RISK CLASSIFICATION FOR NASA PAYLOADS), IS A SCIENCE INVESTIGATION WITH THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE OF TERRESTRIAL FLUXES OF CO2 AND CH4 AT SCIENCE- AND POLICY-RELEVANT SCALES. THE GEOCARB MISSION UTILIZES A MULTI-CHANNEL SLIT-SCAN SPECTROMETER BASED INSTRUMENT THAT WILL MEASURE ABSORPTION SPECTRA IN SUNLIGHT REFLECTED FROM THE GROUND TO INFER THE ATMOSPHERE-COLUMN CONCENTRATIONS OF CO2, CH4, AND CARBON MONOXIDE (CO). THE INSTRUMENT WILL ALSO MEASURE SOLAR-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE (SIF), WHICH PROVIDES DIRECT INFORMATION ABOUT PHOTOSYNTHESIS.