Nature's first green is gold

Lan Dang works on the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 and Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 satellites as the Science Data System Lead. When she’s not busy handling the data the satellite sends back, she’s pursuing her other passion: mentoring new hires and local schoolkids.

Observing your community can depend greatly on your perspective. A science teacher's dive into local carbon dioxide data provides a point of comparison for what NASA's carbon-monitoring satellite can reveal.

Annmarie Eldering first came to JPL in 1999 for a summer fellowship, and stayed for over 20 years. She experienced the excitement and stresses that come with leading the development of new satellites.

Green spaces can create urban oases, and a NASA mission has the data to show they also help pull carbon dioxide out of the air in cities.