MethaneSAT, a nonprofit-funded satellite mission, has a vital goal of pinpointing methane emissions worldwide, a significant contributor to global warming. This mission comes in response to the cancellation of NASA’s GeoCarb project, which was designed to study carbon-based gases, leaving a critical gap in methane detection capabilities. MethaneSAT aims to bridge this gap by monitoring methane emissions with unprecedented precision from space.
Led by the Environmental Defense Fund, MethaneSAT not only seeks to provide a medium-scale view of emissions but also emphasizes “radical transparency” by openly sharing the satellite’s data, including flux maps that reveal emission sources.
This New Yorker article discusses the importance of this mission.