As GHGSat commissions it’s recently launched satellite GHGSat-C1 (Iris), early results from a controlled release of a site in Alberta “indicates performance 5 times better than its predecessor” according to the company.
According to GHGSat “ground measurements of the controlled release confirmed an emission rate of 260 kgCH4/hr, comparable to the emissions from a large landfill. The satellite successfully detected the controlled release, less than two weeks after launch.” The results were also confirmed by an identical sensor which was aboard an aircraft which flew over the site at the same time. GHGSat did not however disclose exactly what measurement the satellite or aircraft sensor recorded.
GHGSat did state that their new satellites are “able to detect methane emissions from sources 100 times smaller than any other satellite, but with a resolution 100 times higher. That means GHGSat can detect and quantify methane emissions from point sources as small as oil & gas wells. No other commercial operator or state-funded space organization can do this.”
Stephane Germain, CEO, GHGSat commented on future results saying “satellites are complex devices and it takes time to fully characterize instruments and optimize processing software to filter out noise from the signal. We have just begun that process with Iris. We expect Iris to attain 10 times better performance than Claire and are now even more confident that we will validate that performance in the coming weeks.”
GHGSat hopes to have a total of 10 emissions detecting satellites in orbit by 2020 along with several sensors on aircraft.