With the launch of five Earth-observing missions in 2014 -- more Earth-focused launches in a single year in more than a decade -- NASA will be able to deliver even more crucial data to scientists trying to understand our changing planet.
. In July 2014, NASA will launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) to study the fate of carbon dioxide worldwide. Natural processes are working hard to keep the carbon cycle in balance by absorbing about half of our carbon emissions, limiting the extent of climate change. There's a lot we don't know about these processes, including where they are occurring and how they might change as the climate warms. To understand and prepare for the carbon cycle of the future, we have an urgent need to find out.
As the United Nations Children’s Fund moves quickly to expand its emergency response to the food shortage crisis in Niger, the French Government has donated to the agency some 1.7 tons of essential drugs and other life-saving supplies to help save tens of thousands of children and their families facing starvation.