Satellite developed by environmental non-profit and launched by SpaceX aims to identify new sources of methane emissions.
Just detached from the SpaceX Transporter-10 that carried it into orbit, MethaneSAT is aiming to fight climate change by reducing methane emissions. Focusing initially on oil and gas operations, the satellite will identify and quantify total methane emissions over wider areas than other satellites can cover and identify large emitters in places they aren’t looking. That’s according to the Environmental Defense Fund, which funded the satellite’s development through a subsidiary, MethaneSAT, LLC.
The satellite was built in Colorado by the Space & Mission Systems unit of BAE Systems, Inc. (formerly Ball Aerospace) and Blue Canyon Technologies. Other partners include Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the New Zealand Space Agency.
“Cutting methane pollution from fossil fuel operations, agriculture and other sectors is the single fastest way to slow the rate of warming as we continue to decarbonize our energy systems,” said EDF President Fred Krupp in a press release. “To do that requires comprehensive data on this pollution on a global scale. MethaneSAT will show us the full scope of the opportunity by tracking emissions to their source.”
The EDF has said that data from MethaneSAT will enable companies and governments to track emissions with free, near-real-time access. The satellite was developed in direct response to an series of 16 independent studies which showed that methane emissions across the U.S. oil and gas supply chain were 60% higher than original estimates.
In addition to identifying emission sources and rates for a given region, the satellite will make it possible to compare emission loss rates across major oil and gas regions over time. Analytics developed specially for the mission will trace those emissions back to their sources within those target regions to ensure emissions goals are being met.
“MethaneSAT’s superpower is the ability to precisely measure methane levels with high resolution over wide areas, including smaller, diffuse sources that account for most emissions in many regions,” said Steven Hamburg, EDF Chief Scientist and MethaneSAT project leader. “Knowing how much methane is coming from where and how the rates are changing is essential.”
MethaneSAT will orbit the Earth 15 times per day, measuring changes in methane concentrations as small as three parts per billion. The data will be available on the MethaneSAT website as well as Google Earth Engine.
