NASA launched a satellite last week that will give it info on carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The $467 million venture involves a few Colorado State University data crunchers from the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. The CSU scientists helped with design and with developing algorithms on CO2 sources, which will help scientists develop better climate models.

The satellite, which is called Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), went into orbit July 1. So now CSU is working with NASA to analyze the data collected while its in orbit for the next two years.

“We at CSU have been working hard on this mission for many years now,” CSU Professor Chris O’Dell said in a press release. “We’ve been involved with OCO-2 from the original concept design process through the implementation of the algorithms used to actually produce the measurements.”

The satellite launch isn’t only huge news for CSU and for Colorado in general, but for space exploration as a whole. NASA said OCO-2 will collect the most accurate data possible, giving completely new insights to environmental scientists worldwide who are working in a drought of data. In fact, only one other satellite, which was launched by Japan in 2009, is focused on collecting carbon dioxide data.

“This information plays a huge role in our ability to predict how our climate is changing,” O’Dell said in the release. “We’re extremely excited to put years of theory into practice and push the envelope of scientific understanding.”