On the 23rd of January A Japanese-made H-2A rocket carrying the world’s first satellite dedicated solely to monitoring the world’s greenhouse gas emissions was successfully launched.

According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency the newly launched satellite will help scientists measure the density of carbon dioxide and methane of almost the entire earth.

The satellite, also known as Ibuki, or "breath of fresh air", will collect data from 56,000 locations around the world, a dramatic increase from the 282 observation points that were being observed.

”Japan hopes the mission will provide governments with useful data as they come under pressure to meet their 2008-2012 Kyoto Protocol goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.” said Seiko Noda, minister in charge of space development.

As well as this Seiko noted that Ibuki is a part of Japan's unique contribution to the world and that she was very optimistic about its activity of providing data on global warming.

Japan is not the only country looking to step up the monitoring of greenhouse gases from space. The United States is set to launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory this year to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide.

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