Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2022)
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 2024-09-30
Current total value of award: $174227522
Description: GEOSTATIONARY CARBON CYCLE OBSERVATORY MISSION (GEOCARB). 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 PRIMARY GOALS OF THE GEOCARB MISSION ARE TO MONITOR PLANT HEALTH AND VEGETATION STRESS THROUGHOUT THE AMERICAS, TO PROBE THE NATURAL SOURCES, SINKS AND EXCHANGE PROCESSES THAT CONTROL CARBON DIOXIDE, CARBON MONOXIDE AND METHANE IN THE ATMOSPHERE, TO PROVIDE OBSERVATIONS AND DEMONSTRATE METHODS TO REALIZE A TRANSFORMATIONAL ADVANCE IN THE SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE GLOBAL CARBON CYCLE. THE GEOCARB CATEGORY 3 MISSION WITH A CLASS D PAYLOAD, 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. 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. THE INSTRUMENT WILL MEASURE SOLAR-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE, WHICH PROVIDES DIRECT INFORMATION ABOUT PHOTOSYNTHESIS.