As its name suggests, the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) satellite mission will measure atmospheric carbon dioxide produced through human activity. CO2M is one of six Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions that ESA is developing on behalf of the EU. As global efforts are put in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to address the climate crisis, the CO2M mission will play a critical role in providing the EU with a unique and independent source of information to assess the effectiveness of policy measures, and to track their impact towards decarbonising Europe and meeting national emission reduction targets.

With launch of the first CO2M satellite scheduled for 2025, the satellite structural model is being tested in ESA’s Test Centre in the Netherlands. The video features the mission’s ESA Project Manager, Valerie Fernandez, who explains the purpose of the mission and the stage at which the mission is in its development process.

Read full story: Carbon dioxide monitoring satellite given the shakes