Sentinel 5P is the Uk-built satellite to monitor the pollution from above and it’s ready to be launched. The satellite is part of the Copernicus global monitoring programme, a joint venture between the European Commission and the European Space Agency. The importance of missions like this is to create and maintain a connection between space and everyday life on Earth. The space is part of national and international infrastructures and has to be “exploited” to monitor the pollution, for example.
Sentinel 5P will be able to measure pollution accurately across individual countries, which can then be compared to their self-declared pollution inventories. It will image the whole Earth every day, and can also monitor concentrations of volcanic ash for air safety, and warn against high levels of the UV radiation that can cause skin cancer. In the UK air pollution causes at least 40,000 deaths a year, and costs the economy £20bn a year, so it is a phenomenon which has to be monitored and to be kept under control.