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Orbiting Carbon Observatories
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OCO-3 Observatory

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory – 3 (OCO-3) has been hosted on the International Space Station (ISS) since August 2019. The observatory incorporates the OCO-2 mission's spare grating spectrometer instrument. The payload was transported to ISS on a SpaceX Dragon and robotically installed on the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility (JEM-EF). OCO-3 was removed and temporarily stored from the JEM-EF in November 2023 to make way for a different payload. It was returned to service on July 4, 2024.

Where is the ISS now?

To Learn More: Read the paper describing the mission and its objectives.

OCO-3 Payload
OCO-3 at JEM External Facility Site 3

To learn more about the International Space Station, please go to ISS.
To learn more information about the Japanese Experiment Module's Exposed Facility, please go to Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility (JEM-EF)