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MethaneSAT is an American-New Zealand space mission launched in 2024 aboard SpaceX's Transporter 10 rideshare mission.[1] It is an Earth observation satellite that will monitor and study global methane emissions in order to combat climate change. The spacecraft will carry a high performance spectrometer methane sensing system, which will allow the spacecraft to take high resolution measurements of global methane emissions from roughly 50 major regions across Earth.
| Mission type | Climatology |
|---|---|
| Operator | Environmental Defense Fund New Zealand Space Agency |
| COSPAR ID | 2024-043D |
| SATCAT no. | 59101 |
| Website | https://www.methanesat.org/ |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | MethaneSAT |
| Bus | X-Sat |
| Manufacturer | Blue Canyon Technologies |
| Launch mass | 350 kg (770 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | March 4, 2024 |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 |
| Launch site | Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California |
| Contractor | SpaceX |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Sun-synchronous orbit |
The mission is jointly funded and operated by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an American non-governmental organization, and the New Zealand Space Agency. It marks New Zealand's first space science mission.[2] The Bezos Earth Fund, founded by Jeff Bezos, announced a US$100 million grant to EDF that will support critical work including completion and launch of MethaneSAT. Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, a National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) carbon cycle expert, has been named as the mission's lead scientist.[3]
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The MethaneSAT program was started by MethaneSAT, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), with the goal of providing global high resolution data regarding methane emissions from oil and gas facilities. In January 2020, MethaneSAT announced that the spacecraft will be built using the Blue Canyon Technologies X-SAT satellite bus, with the spacecraft's methane sensing spectrometer being provided by Ball Aerospace & Technologies.[4]
In November 2019, the New Zealand Space Agency (NZSA) joined the program, committing NZ$26 million to the program. Rocket Lab will build and operate the mission control center for the flight in Auckland, New Zealand.[5] NZSA will also take part in launch operations and may contribute to the scientific payload.[6]
Ball Aerospace and Blue Canyon Technologies completed an intensive technology review of their respective contributions to the mission in early 2020.[7]
On 13 January 2021, the nonprofit MethaneSAT LLC announced that it had signed a contract with SpaceX to deliver the 350 kg MethaneSAT into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 Block 5 launch vehicle with a launch window opening on 1 October 2022.[8]
By November 2022, the launch had been delayed to NET October 2023 by supply chain issues during the Covid-19 pandemic.[9] The satellite launched as part of Transporter 10 on 4 March 2024.
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Early reports using the MethaneSat equipment mounted on a jet aircraft (MethaneAir) showed that oil and gas producers in the U.S. are emitting methane into the atmosphere at over four times the rates estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency.[10] The largest emitter is the Permian Basin in Texas which is emitting 256 tons of methane every day, accounting for 1.9% of total gas production. This is in addition to the CO2 produced by extensive gas flaring in the region.
Across continental U.S. the aggregate methane loss rate across 12 basins amounts to 1.6% of gas produced, which is 8 times higher than the 0.2% emissions intensity target adopted by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative.[11]
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