Japan, Europe and America are all launching satellites with the express aim of watching Earth's atmosphere to keep an eye on greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.
The first to go up was the Gosat satellite in Japan, launched this week from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Southern Japan. Next week, NASA launches EarthWatch, and next month Europe is to launch the Halyard mission.
All three will look back at Earth and monitor air and sea temperatures, and the atmospheric composition across the globe providing scientists with an unprecedented level of detail on how climate change is progressing, and which areas are of most concern.
Already the Gosat team in Japan are reporting back results. After the satellite attained orbit it looked back at Japan and saw that atmospheric carbon dioxide over Asia had risen by five hundred and twenty percent just from the launch of the satellite.
NASA is said to be going ahead with their climate change mission, despite pressure from environmentalists, claiming that rocket exhaust is not covered by international emission laws. Europe has decided to scrap the Halyard project ostensibly because of emission concerns, but in reality because fuel is too expensive in Europe.
