GHGSat has won a $557k contract from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) as part of the Innovative Solutions Canada’s Testing Stream for their Satellite Wide-Area Surveillance of Greenhouse Gas Emissions technology.
According to an ISED representative who responded to SpaceQ’s query, GHGSat will use its Satellite Wide-Area Surveillance of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (SWAS-GHG) “artificial intelligence to detect methane hotspots and predict areas of high emission risk to intelligently task a satellite to measure those sites. This will enable government regulators like ECCC (Environment and Climate Change Canada) to monitor wide areas of jurisdictional responsibility (e.g. a province or a territory) with localized high resolution that would otherwise not be possible without an impracticably large number of satellites.”
The contract started October 13, 2021 and will run through March 22, 2022.
ISED also stated the scope of the test will include:
- The objective of the test is to examine the utility of satellite system capabilities to inform the federal government of methane emission trends and specific events that would be relevant to initiate engagement with other governments and industry.
- The test will help provide an indication of emissions and views of emissions under different temperatures and climatic conditions.
Two days after being awarded the contract GHGSat said they had deployed a second airborne sensor. GHGSat monitors emissions from its satellites in orbit along with sensors which are deployed on planes.
GHGSat said in a press release that their “first airborne sensor was deployed in early 2019 and debuted GHGSat’s aerial monitoring service, DATA.AIR, in North America. This second sensor will increase capacity in North America and provide opportunities to deploy the airborne sensor overseas.”
“The airborne sensor can operate at a variety of altitudes (up to 3,000m), balancing spatial resolution with coverage needs to meet specific survey requirements of customers. The instrument identifies the unique ‘signature’ created by methane in the atmosphere as it absorbs sunlight reflected off the surface of the Earth. With this technology, industrial operators can accurately measure emissions and pinpoint their exact source – from oil and gas infrastructure, coal mines, power generation facilities or landfill sites – to support their emission reduction programs.”
Stephane Germain, GHGSat CEO said “so far this year, our airborne sensor has surveyed over 60,000 sites delivering precision emission data to our customers in the US and Canada. We are increasing our airborne capacity in order to meet increasing customer demand.”