NASA | Birth of a Space Laser Instrument

A new C02 laser, which will globally measure carbon dioxide from space, is due to be launched in 2023 on the ASCENDS mission. One of the exciting things about this project is that you can actually watch trees eat and breathe. Of course, trees are breathing all the time, but they are only eating, meaning, performing photosynthesis when the sun is out. The main science is to measure how much carbon dioxide there is in the atmosphere at this particular time on the Earth, how much is there total and where is it located.