About the Instrument: The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) is comprised of a single instrument that flies on a dedicated spacecraft. The instrument, consisting of three high resolution grating spectrometers, makes coincident measurements of reflected sunlight in the near-infrared CO2 near 1.61 and 2.06 μm and in molecular oxygen (O2) A-Band at 0.76 μm It will acquire precise measurements of total column atmospheric CO2. | Artist's rendering of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2 |