On December 21, 2016, at 19:22 UTC (on December 22 at 03:22 Beijing time) the “Long March–2D” (“Changzheng-2D”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, the northwest of China. The rocket orbited the “TanSat” satellite. Using a near-infrared spectrometer, the TanSat satellite will track regional and global concentrations of carbon dioxide down to four parts per million, generating monthly maps of where the densest greenhouse gas levels are distributed worldwide. The satellite will cover every part of the planet at least once every 16 days during its three-year mission. The same rocket also orbited 3 microsatellites: the “Yijian” high resolution earth observing minisatellite, Spark-01 and Spark-02 hyperspectral earth observing minisatellites.