Colorado companies join coalition in methane-seeking space mission

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Colorado has led the nation on regulating methane emissions and now companies in the state are major contributors to a new satellite expected to be an important tool in identifying and quantifying …

Colorado has led the country in regulating methane emissions and two Colorado aerospace companies are part of a new mission to identify and quantify methane globally. Space & Mission Systems and Blue Canyon Technologies built the instrument and the satellite for MethaneSat, headed by the Environmental Defense Fund.

The development and launch of the methane-seeking satellite cost about $88 million. Alberto Conti, vice president and general manager for Space and Mission Systems’ civil space business unit, said EDF didn’t have the kind of background and experience that many of the company’s other clients do. As efforts to curb the greenhouse gas emissions have intensified, methane has emerged both as an urgent concern and possible pathway to blunting some of the more immediate impacts of climate change.the main ingredient of natural gas, is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat, but has a lifespan of up to 12 years. Carbon dioxide can last for hundreds of years.said methane is behind about 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution.

The company was founded as Ball Aerospace in 1956 and its work includes building seven of the instruments that were on the Hubble Space Telescope. Another project was building a 21-foot mirror system to capture light from objects for the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble. MethaneSAT can detect methane emissions as small as 3 parts per billion. One part per billion equates to a drop of ink in a large gasoline tanker truck or one second in nearly 32 years, according to a fact sheet by the

Pramann’s team at SMS is monitoring the orbiting satellite, making sure everything is functioning. The company is expected to hand off operation of MethaneSat in May to the New Zealand Space Agency, one of the partners in the program.

 

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