VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — A rocket carrying a NASA global warming satellite this morning splashed into the ocean near Antarctica after a failed launch.

The Taurus XL rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory blasted off just before 2 a.m. from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

But minutes later, the fairing on the rocket failed to separate, a preliminary investigation found. The fairing is a clamshell cover protecting the satellite as it is blasted through the atmosphere.

The 986-pound satellite was supposed to be placed into an orbit some 400 miles high to track carbon dioxide emissions.

"We could not make orbit," said John Brunschwyler, Taurus project manager for Orbital Sciences, which built the rocket and satellite.

The rocket landed in the ocean near Antarctica.

NASA said it will convene a team of experts to investigate the loss of the satellite.

The observatory was NASA's first satellite dedicated to monitoring carbon dioxide on a global scale.