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Nasa's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite is getting ready to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California today at 10:56am BST (05.56 EST).

The launch, on a Delta II rocket, can be watched live at the stream below, and Nasa says there is a zero per cent chance of the launch being cancelled.

OCO-2 will be the first dedicated Nasa mission to monitor atmospheric carbon dioxide on global scales.

The satellite must be launched at exactly the right time to ensure it enters the right orbit.

This will bring it in line with a series of other Earth-observing satellites known as the 'A-train'.

In fact, the orbit is so precise that there is only a 30 second launch window within which it can take off; any delays and Nasa will have to try again another day.

Nasa Launch Manager Tim Dunn of the agency's Launch Services Program told the launch team this morning that the countdown and conditions 'look very, very good'.

OCO-2 will be carried into space by the United Launch alliance Delta II rocket.

It is the second of five Nasa Earth science missions to be launched this year.

Nasa monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites and airborne and ground-based observation campaigns.

OCO-2 is Nasa's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate according to Nasa.

It will collect 24 measurements every second, totaling about a million every day.

Of these, about 100,000 are expected to be sufficiently cloud free to provide highly usable carbon dioxide data.

The best carbon dioxide-observing satellite currently in orbit takes 4 seconds to make one such observation and collects fewer than 20,000 pieces of data per day, with about 500 of those being highly useful.

The NASA space station that will monitor our carbon levels

This long exposure photo shows the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite onboard, at the Space Launch Complex Two, of the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The launch is set to take place at 10:56am BST today

OCO-2 (illustration shown) is Nasa's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide, the leading human-produced greenhouse gas driving changes in Earth's climate according to Nasa. It will collect 24 measurements every second, totaling about a million every day

OCO-2 studies carbon dioxide by looking at the colors (or wavelengths) of sunlight that carbon dioxide absorbs.

To identify very small changes in this absorption from one wavelength to the next, the OCO-2 instrument separates light into many narrow bands of wavelengths.

But OCO-2's field of view is only about one square mile (three square kilometers) - smaller than New York City's Central Park.

This allows it to dodge clouds, which regularly cover about two-thirds of Earth; even a tiny wisp of cloud in OCO-2's view compromises the measurement.

Six to seven weeks after launch, OCO-2 will be maneuvered into its final operational orbit in the A-Train constellation, 438 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth.

And the first science observations of carbon dioxide levels on our planet are slated to begin about 45 days after launch.

Technicians are seen making last minute preparations before the launch of the rocket. Nasa says there is zero chance of the launch being cancelled today. OCO-2 will be able to pinpoint where the planet's forests and ocean are reabsorbing atmospheric carbon, a cycle that is key to Earth's temperature

Pictured here is Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The upper levels of the launch gantry can be seen, surrounding the United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite onboard, at the Space Launch Complex 2 on 29 June 2014

'Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays a critical role in our planet's energy balance and is a key factor in understanding how our climate is changing,' said Michael Freilich, director of Nasa's Earth Science Division in Washington.

'With the OCO-2 mission, Nasa will be contributing an important new source of global observations to the scientific challenge of better understanding our Earth and its future.'

Michael Gunson, OCO-2 project scientist at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California, added: 'Knowing what parts of Earth are helping remove carbon from our atmosphere will help us understand whether they will keep doing so in the future.

'Understanding the processes controlling carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will help us predict how fast it will build up in the future.

'Data from this mission will help scientists reduce uncertainties in forecasts of how much carbon dioxide will be in the atmosphere and improve the accuracy of global climate change predictions.'