In an attempt to combat climate change, the US space agency NASA has launched an equipment to measure the quantities of carbon and methane in the planet.
The device is affixed to the Tanager-1 satellite. It was launched on August 16 from NASA’s Vandenberg Space Force Base in California using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Shortly after launch, ground controllers reported that they were able to successfully establish communications with the satellite.
According to a NASA announcement, the satellite has a gas-sensing device that uses “imaging spectrometer technology.” One tool for examining the chemical makeup and structures of substances is a spectrometer.
JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, created the imaging spectrometer device. Other firms, such as Planet Labs PBC, were involved in the collaborative initiative as well. The Tanager-1 satellite was constructed in part by the private firm.
Tanager-1 is one of the two satellites created by the Carbon Mapper Coalition, a public-private cooperation. The launch of the other satellite is still pending.
According to the group, its goal is to facilitate the global gathering of comprehensive data on emissions of carbon dioxide and methane. The alliance wants to push for a decrease in carbon and methane emissions using the data. Earth’s growing temperatures have been connected by scientists to emissions of methane and carbon. The majority of the warming is attributed by many climate experts to pollutants brought on by human activity.
The director of the Pasadena, California-based JPL is Laurie Leshin. The image spectrometer technology, she added in a statement, is the result of more than 40 years of research and development at NASA. Leshin stated that governments, environmental organizations, and policymakers around the world can benefit from such comprehensive emissions data.
Tanager-1 will try to collect data every day covering 130,000 square kilometers of the Earth’s surface when it is fully operational. This will enable researchers to pinpoint particular gas clouds that are emitting methane and carbon dioxide. NASA announced that the gathered data will be accessible to the general public via the Carbon Mapper data site.
NASA estimates that human activity is responsible for roughly half of methane emissions globally. “Super emitters” are the largest pollutants, according to Riley Duren, CEO of Carbon Mapper Coalition. Superemitters produce more than 100 kg of methane every hour, he told the Reuters news agency. According to Duren, in some industries, this amount of release could account for as much as 20 to 60 percent of the overall emissions in the area.
The organization also stated that “there is now 50 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was in 1750, an increase largely due to the extraction and burning of coal, oil, and (natural) gas.”
The Carbon Mapper Coalition, according to Duren’s statement, is an excellent illustration of “how organizations from different sectors are uniting around a common goal of addressing climate change.” He went on to say that pinpointing the sources of methane and carbon dioxide “can drive significant action around the world to cut emissions now.”
Tanager-1 was launched following NASA’s February PACE satellite deployment. Its purpose is to do in-depth research on the world’s atmosphere and oceans. Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and Ocean Ecosystem is referred to as PACE. From an orbit 676 kilometers above Earth’s surface, the satellite will research the environment for at least three years.
