(follow-up to Methane Matters, part one)

MethaneSAT was launched on March 4, 2024. The new satellite will monitor methane emissions over a swath accounting for at least 80% of global oil and gas production. It has sufficient precision and spatial resolution to detect low emissions and track larger single emissions back to their point source. Data will be accessible free of charge. The satellite was developed by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund with multiple partners including the New Zealand Space Agency (who will evaluate distributed emissions from agriculture), Harvard scientists, and Google.

• MethaneSat website: https://www.methanesat.org
• “When we see the climate more clearly, what will we do?” David Wallace-Wells, New York Times, March 20, 2024 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/opinion/climate-change-methane-satellite-emissions.html
• Columbia Energy Exchange podcast: https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/a-look-under-the-hood-of-edfs-methane-detection-satellite – more newsy interview with EDF chief scientist Steve Hamburg. Monitoring needs to drive action.
• Volts podcast: https://www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-deal-with-these-methane – more chatty interview with the leader of the energy program at EDF, Mark Brownstein