A satellite tv for pc monitoring world methane air pollution has gone darkish, imperiling a mission that garnered huge assist from Jeff Bezos and different massive names in tech.
However since June twentieth, mission operations haven’t been in a position to contact MethaneSat. The satellite tv for pc has misplaced energy and is “probably not recoverable,” in accordance with an replace shared right now by the nonprofit Environmental Protection Fund that developed MethaneSat.
The satellite tv for pc has misplaced energy and is “probably not recoverable”
The satellite tv for pc price $88 million to construct and launch, and the hassle obtained a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund. It launched in March of final 12 months from a SpaceX Falcon 9 slightly than a Blue Origin rocket. The launch marked the primary government-funded house mission by New Zealand’s House Company, which supported mission operations management and an atmospheric science program.
Earlier than MethaneSat, EDF needed to take methane readings on the bottom and by plane to measure fuel leaks. That painstaking work was revelatory; it discovered that US methane emissions have been really 60 p.c increased than the Environmental Safety Company’s estimates between 2012 and 2018.
Taking readings from house, MethaneSat was supposed to have the ability to survey an space in about 20 seconds that may have taken an plane 2 hours. Orbiting Earth in 95 minutes, it might cowl oil and fuel fields accounting for greater than 80 p.c of worldwide manufacturing.
Google additionally partnered with EDF to trace methane emissions. With the same technique to the way in which Google Maps identifies sidewalks and road indicators in satellite tv for pc imagery, the corporate began coaching AI to identify properly pads, pump jacks, storage tanks, and different fossil gas infrastructure.
EDF says it’s nonetheless working to course of information MethaneSat has been in a position to collect since launching, which it hopes can be utilized to restrict methane air pollution.
