The mission of MethaneSAT, one of the most advanced satellites for monitoring greenhouse gases , has ended unexpectedly and prematurely, ceasing operations just over a year after its launch. This ambitious project, created to provide unprecedented transparency on methane emissions, has come to an abrupt end, leaving the scientific community to deal with a significant loss, but also with a wealth of precious data climate.
The MethaneSAT adventure began in March 2024, aboard a SpaceX Transporter-10 mission. The goal was noble and crucial to the fight against climate change : to identify and accurately measure methane emissions on a global scale, with a particular focus on those resulting from the oil and gas industry. Methane, although less well known than CO₂, is an incredibly powerful greenhouse gas, with a capacity to trap heat in the atmosphere 20 to 30 times greater. It acts like a thick blanket that envelops our planet, hovering at an altitude of between eight and fifteen kilometers. The mission, therefore, aimed to provide publicly accessible data to independently verify emissions reports provided by industries, a fundamental tool for guiding environmental policies.
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Behind this watchful eye in orbit was a high-profile collaboration. The project, which cost about $88 million (about 82 million euros), was developed and managed by the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), but was supported by high-profile partners, including the Amazon founder’s Bezos Earth Fund, Google, and the New Zealand Space Agency. The common purpose of exposing an invisible yet harmful pollutant united a diverse consortium.
The cold shower came on July 1, when EDF officially announced the end of operations. “On Friday, June 20, the MethaneSAT mission operations lost contact with the satellite,” the statement reads. “After having exhausted every option to restore communications, we learned that the satellite has lost power and is probably unrecoverable.” Difficult news, marking the premature end of a cutting-edge project.
Despite the disappointment caused by the mission’s interruption, our commitment to the project remains unwavering. The project managers have emphasized that the data collected during the months of activity will still be processed and made public .
“We will continue to process the data we have retrieved from the satellite and will release further regional-scale emissions scenes from global oil and gas production in the coming months,” EDF assured.
This information heritage represents an important scientific and technological success, a legacy that can be exploited by other missions and that has already demonstrated the validity of the technology developed.
