Oh, poop.

Junk up there, junk down here.Alas, it's all connected. This baby is a NASA satellite that picks up on how many times it gets hit with space debris. Sadly, the NASA carbon exploring satellite, before itself becoming space debris upon failing at launch, went down in the ocean off Antarctica. Killed a baby penguin (see below). "NASA's OCO satellite to study atmospheric carbon dioxide launched aboard a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Feb. 24 at 1:55 a.m. PST, but it failed to reach orbit. . . . The Mishap Investigation Board led by Rick Obenschain, deputy director at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., verified that the Taurus launch vehicle fairing failed to separate upon command. The fairing is a clamshell structure that encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere. The failure to shed the fairing mass prevented the satellite from reaching its planned orbit and resulted in its destruction. . . . The official report of the board contains information restricted by U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations and company-sensitive proprietary information. As a result, the board has prepared a summary of its report, which provides an overview of publicly releasable findings and recommendations regarding the OCO mission failure. The summary is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/oco." Oh, poop.