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Welcome to Space to Ground,
I'm Isidro Reyna. The science continues

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onboard the International Space Station.

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Carbon Dioxide is one of the most important and long-lived greenhouse
gases.

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In fact increases in atmospheric Carbon Dioxide both man-made and natural
are responsible for about two-thirds of

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the total energy imbalance that is
causing the Earth's temperature to rise.

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The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3
experiment which arrived the station May

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6, will give scientists the first
opportunity to watch the earth breathe

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from space. We know that local carbon
dioxide levels rise and fall during a

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day with changes in emissions and
photosynthesis rates, but these changes

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are measured sparsely worldwide. The
experiment will observe how carbon

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dioxide concentrations change throughout
the day in many parts of the globe.

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In both large industrialized cities and
surrounding crop lands. This is another

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step toward monitoring emission hotspots,
volcanic eruptions and other local

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carbon sources from space. Understanding
carbon sources can aid in forecasting

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increased atmospheric heat retention and
reduce its long-term risks.

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Serious medical conditions caused by poor kidney
health can occur more often in space.

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The Kidney Cells experiment examines how
kidney health is affected by

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microgravity and other factors of space
travel including increased chemical

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exposure, water conservation and
recycling, and altered dietary intake.

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Knowledge gain can help protect the
health of astronauts and also contribute

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to better treatments for kidney related
conditions on earth. Learning the results

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of this research on the space station is
critical as we look to send humans on

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longer space missions and set our sights
on sending astronauts to the moon by 2024.

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This week's question comes from
Bill, who asked why space is the place to

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perform many of these experiments versus
Earth. Space is unique because it allows

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scientists to remove gravity from the
equation giving them an entirely new

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environment to study everything from
human health to physical processes only

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happening on extremely small scales. We
may not know yet what will be the most

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important discovery gained from space
station, but we already have some amazing breakthroughs.

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In the areas of human health,

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telemedicine, education and observations
of Earth from space, they're all already

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demonstrated benefits to human life.
Vaccine development research, station

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generated images that assist with
disaster relief in farming, and education

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programs that inspire future scientists,
engineers, and space explorers are just