Latest news with #MethaneSAT
Forbes
a day ago
- Science
- Forbes
Why MethaneSAT's Sudden Silence Should Concern Us All
An artist's rendering of MethaneSAT, a satellite designed to measure methane pollution around the ... More world. Why Methane Matters Methane is the second-most significant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, but it is far more potent in the short term, trapping over 80 times more heat than CO₂ over a 20-year period. It leaks from pipelines, fracking sites, livestock operations, and landfills, and plays a central role in accelerating global warming. The total yearly methane (CH4) emissions from human activities expressed as weight in megatonnes ... More (Mt) Unlike CO₂, however, methane breaks down relatively quickly in the atmosphere. That means cutting methane emissions is one of the fastest and most effective ways to reduce global temperatures in the near term. Watch my short explainer video on how we can cut methane emissions—and why reducing short-lived climate pollutants like methane could help cool the planet by up to 0.5°C in just a few decades. MethaneSAT was created to provide clear, independent, high-resolution data on where methane was leaking—and who was leaking it. It could single out individual oil fields and drill sites from orbit. And its early results were troubling: emissions from major oil and gas fields in North America and Central Asia were found to be several times higher than companies had officially reported. What MethaneSAT Managed to Expose Before Falling Silent A Sudden Silence The satellite's loss of contact came without warning. According to EDF, the satellite likely experienced a power failure, possibly due to issues with its onboard thruster system or the effects of solar activity. It may never be recovered. It's too early to draw conclusions. Space is inherently risky. But when a mission with this kind of potential—and this kind of impact—stops working just as it hits its stride, it raises difficult questions. Was it just bad luck? "I'm afraid they'll find a way to shut it down"Earlier this year, during a Zoom call to explore a potential collaboration between and MethaneSAT, I spoke with a high-level executive involved in the mission. During our conversation, the person said bluntly that they feared the satellite could be shut down. "I'm afraid they'll find a way to shut it down," they told me. The satellite ultimately failed due to what appears to be a technical issue. But the fact that such a fear could be voiced at all—that a scientific mission could be seen as politically vulnerable—speaks volumes about the world we now live in. A Broader Crisis in Climate Monitoring MethaneSAT's loss is not an isolated event. Many of the world's most important Earth-observing satellites are aging rapidly. NASA's Terra, Aqua, and Aura satellites, launched in the early 2000s, are nearing the end of their operational lifespans. By the end of this decade, most of them will likely be decommissioned. Yet there is no comprehensive replacement plan. Instead, U.S. political momentum is moving decisively in the opposite direction. The 2025 budget proposal from the House of Representatives includes dramatic cuts to Earth science programs at NASA and NOAA. These cuts threaten everything from climate monitoring to weather forecasting. At the very moment we need more eyes on the planet, we're pulling the plug. This week, every living NASA science chief—past and present—signed a joint letter opposing these cuts, warning that eliminating climate science capabilities at this stage would be 'flying blind into the storm.' And the assault goes even deeper. The Trump administration has also proposed shutting down the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory, the lab that has measured atmospheric CO₂ continuously since 1958. This is the birthplace of the Keeling Curve—the iconic record that shows CO₂ rising from 313 parts per million to over 430 ppm today. It is the most conclusive, long-term evidence of human-caused climate change. And now, it too is on the chopping block. If enacted, these proposals would eliminate much of the U.S. greenhouse gas monitoring network, from northern Alaska to the South Pole. Transparency Under Threat MethaneSAT's data was being integrated into broader climate tracking initiatives, such as Climate TRACE—a groundbreaking project backed by former Vice President Al Gore that aggregates real-time emissions data from satellites and AI-driven analysis. As I detailed in my previous Forbes article, Al Gore's Real-Time Climate Data Just Went Live—Here's Why It Matters, TRACE represents a revolutionary leap in emissions accountability. But the loss of MethaneSAT creates a critical gap in this otherwise powerful global emissions surveillance network. The Fossil Gas Industry's Last Stand The Methane Regulation is an EU law passed in 2024 aimed at reducing methane emissions in the energy sector, especially from oil, gas, and coal. While it came into force in 2024, rules for importers start applying gradually, and full compliance is expected by 2026–2027, depending on the provision. Now, the European Commission is considering weakening the Methane Regulation, likely due to threats of tariffs coming from the Trump administration. The regulation doesn't ban imports—it just says that if you want to sell gas or oil to the EU, you have to measure, report, and reduce your methane emissions. Pretty reasonable, right? But now, of course, the fossil fuel industry shows up, teary-eyed, hat in hand, pleading for mercy. In an open letter this week, industry reps said the regulation is too complicated, the timelines are too tight, and the compliance burden is just too heavy. They're asking for a grace period, contract protections, and a delay in enforcement. Why? Because it's hard, they say, to figure out exactly where their fuel came from or what the emissions were. Because some EU member states haven't finished their national rulebooks. Because compliance might cost money. The fossil gas industry rakes in profits in the hundreds of billions of dollars every year. They've had plenty of time and capital to invest in tracking systems and cleaner infrastructure. Instead, many of them sat on the cash—or handed it out to shareholders—and now claim they're not ready. This regulation didn't come out of nowhere. The warning signs were clear. The legislation process was long. The deadlines were known. Most infuriating of all, this regulation simply asks companies to do what any responsible, ethical organization would be doing of their own accord. For decades, fossil fuel companies have externalized the cost of methane leakage—dumping a climate-damaging gas into the atmosphere while claiming their product is a clean 'bridge fuel.' This regulation is one of the first serious efforts to change that dynamic. It says: if you want access to the EU market, you have to take responsibility for your environmental footprint. Powerful Interests at Stake MethaneSAT's silence is undoubtedly welcomed by fossil fuel industries that stood to lose significantly from increased transparency and accountability. The disappearance of such detailed emissions data removes immediate pressure and scrutiny, allowing polluters to continue claiming to take action to curb emissions while doing nothing of the sort. Meanwhile, the planet's remaining carbon budget is rapidly running out. What's Next? We may never know exactly why MethaneSAT stopped transmitting. But its loss underscores a larger issue: our ability to monitor the Earth—our atmosphere, oceans, emissions—is being not just neglected, but deliberately defunded at a time when it should be rapidly expanding. Imagine a hospital losing its ability to scan a patient mid-diagnosis. Doctors would be blind to the progression of the disease, unable to treat or even assess it. The loss of MethaneSAT is the climate equivalent. Without precise, reliable data, efforts to track and mitigate global warming risk becoming guesswork. Meanwhile, critical climate infrastructure is being targeted elsewhere. The Trump administration's 2025 budget proposal seeks to shut down the Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory—home of the Keeling Curve and the longest-running CO₂ record in the world. It would also defund NOAA's broader greenhouse gas monitoring network, threatening continuity in our core climate records. And yet, in just a few months of operation, MethaneSAT showed what's possible: near-real-time, high-resolution emissions data—independent, accessible, and globally impactful. The response to its failure should not be retreat, but reinforcement. Just because one satellite failed doesn't mean the mission failed. If anything, it proved how essential this kind of monitoring is. New satellites must be launched. Not eventually—now. Because we can't solve what we can't see. And we should never accept flying blind as the new normal.
Gizmodo
03-07-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Lost in Space: A ‘Game-Changing' Emissions Satellite Just Went Dark
An $88 million satellite backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos is lost in space. MethaneSAT, designed to sniff out sources of methane emissions across the globe, only survived about 15 months in Earth's orbit before meeting its untimely end. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which launched the satellite in March 2024, announced its demise on July 1. The organization revealed that MethaneSAT suddenly went silent on June 20, and its mission operations team has been unable to re-establish contact ever since. Now, they believe the satellite has lost power altogether. Steven Hamburg, EDF's chief scientist and leader of the MethaneSAT mission, told Science there was no previous indication of a problem. 'Not one of my better days or weeks,' he said. When MethaneSAT launched, EDF promised it would be a 'game-changer' for tracking planet-warming methane emissions, helping regulators address point sources of this potent greenhouse gas. In some ways, it has been. For over a year, this satellite helped pinpoint industrial sources of methane emissions—primarily those produced by the oil and gas industry. This greenhouse gas is incredibly potent, trapping 28 times more heat in Earth's atmosphere over a 100-year time period than carbon dioxide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Experts know methane emissions primarily stem from agriculture, fossil fuel production, and decomposition of landfill waste, but its point sources are difficult to locate and quantify individually. MethaneSAT, developed with the help of a $100 million grant from Jeff Bezos's Earth Fund, aimed to make this easier. While other satellites—such as the European Space Agency's Sentinel-5—can map methane on larger scales, MethaneSAT's state-of-the-art spectrometers could detect smaller emissions across entire oil and gas fields. At the same time, it zeroed in on hot spots with unprecedented precision, producing high-resolution snapshots of methane 'leaks.' 'Thanks to MethaneSAT, we have gained critical insight about the distribution and volume of methane being released from oil and gas production areas,' the EDF statement reads. 'We have also developed an unprecedented capability to interpret the measurements from space and translate them into volumes of methane released. This capacity will be valuable to other missions.' Still, it's a huge bummer that MethaneSAT's operational days are over. This satellite was supposed to survive five years in orbit, circling the Earth 15 times per day to produce a wealth of freely available, near-real-time data. This would have made tracking and regulating emissions much easier for both companies and regulators. The data would also have been available to stakeholders, including citizens, governments, investors, and gas importers. EDF hopes the satellite's legacy will live on. 'EDF and MethaneSAT remain firmly committed to our core purpose of turning data into action to protect the climate, including reducing methane emissions from the global oil and gas industry,' the organization stated. EDF will continue processing the data it has retrieved from the satellite, with plans to release additional images of regional-scale methane emissions from fossil fuel production over the coming months. The group will also work with global partners to leverage the algorithms and associated software built to convert its observations into emissions estimates, as well as its high-precision technology. Other satellites could make use of these assets to fill in the gap MethaneSAT left behind. EDF has not shared plans to launch another satellite. 'We're going to take a pause,' Hamburg told Science. 'Obviously, we've suffered a loss,' he said. 'I have a large team of people who have put their heart and soul into what many people said was impossible.' Hopefully, MethaneSAT's successes encourage other innovators to continue its mission. 'To solve the climate challenge requires bold action and risk-taking and this satellite was at the leading edge of science, technology, and advocacy,' EDF stated.
Daily Tribune
03-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Tribune
Bezos-backed methanetracking satellite lost in space
TDT | Wellington A satellite backed by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been lost in space while carrying out an important climate change mission, New Zealand officials said yesterday. Designed to measure greenhouse gas emissions with 'unprecedented resolution', the MethaneSAT space probe was also funded by Wellington and the USbased Environmental Defense Fund. Plagued with technical problems, the satellite recently stopped responding to its Earth-bound controllers. 'Clearly, this is a disappointing development,' said Andrew Johnson, a senior official at the New Zealand Space Agency. 'As those who work in the space sector know, space is inherently challenging, and every attempt -- successful or not -- pushes the boundaries of what we know and what we're capable of.'
CBC
03-07-2025
- Science
- CBC
Bezos-backed methane tracking satellite lost in space
An $88 million satellite backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos that detected oil and gas industry's emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane has been lost in space, the group that operates it told Reuters on Tuesday. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. But many methane leaks go undetected, making the scale of pollution unclear. MethaneSAT had been collecting emissions data and images from drilling sites, pipelines, and processing facilities around the world since March, but went off course around 10 days ago, the Environmental Defense Fund, which led the initiative, said. Its last known location was over Svalbard in Norway and EDF said it did not expect it to be recovered as it had lost power. "We're seeing this as a setback, not a failure," Amy Middleton, senior vice president at EDF, told Reuters. "We've made so much progress and so much has been learned that if we hadn't taken this risk, we wouldn't have any of these learnings." The launch of MethaneSAT in March 2024 was a milestone in a years-long campaign by EDF to hold accountable the more than 120 countries that in 2021 pledged to curb their methane emissions. WATCH | Pollution-tracking satellite is launched into space (from 2024): Pollution-tracking satellite launched into space 1 year ago Duration 1:59 A groundbreaking satellite named MethaneSAT has been launched into space with the goal of tracking global methane emissions. Scientists hope the technology will help hold oil and gas companies accountable in the fight against climate change. It also sought to help enforce a further promise from 50 oil and gas companies made at the Dubai COP28 climate summit in December 2023 to eliminate methane and routine gas flaring. Capping methane leaks a fast way to tackle climate change, say scientists Given how potent methane is, scientists say capping leaks from oil and gas wells and equipment is one of the fastest ways to start tackling the problem of global warming. WATCH | Wells leaking pollutants: Methane from abandoned oil wells worse than initially recorded 14 days ago Duration 2:02 A new McGill University study suggests that methane leaking from Canada's abandoned oil and gas wells is almost seven times higher than previously thought, and residents living near them are calling on the government to take urgent action. While MethaneSAT was not the only project to publish satellite data on methane emissions, its backers said it provided more detail on emissions sources and it partnered with Google to to create a publicly-available global map of emissions. EDF reported the lost satellite to federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Space Force on Tuesday, it said. Building and launching the satellite cost $88 million, according to the EDF. The organization had received a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund in 2020 and got other major financial support from Arnold Ventures, the Robertson Foundation and the TED Audacious Project and EDF donors. The project was also partnered with the New Zealand Space Agency. EDF said it had insurance to cover the loss and its engineers were investigating what had happened. It said it would continue to use its resources, including aircraft with methane-detecting spectrometers, to look for methane leaks. Despite the efforts to increase transparency on emissions, methane "super-emitters" have rarely taken action when alerted that they are leaking methane, the United Nations said in a report last year.
Free Malaysia Today
03-07-2025
- Science
- Free Malaysia Today
Bezos-backed methane-tracking satellite lost in space
MethaneSAT was designed to measure emissions of the potent greenhouse gas. (Business Wire/AP pic) WELLINGTON : A satellite backed by billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been lost in space while carrying out an important climate change mission, New Zealand officials said today. Designed to measure greenhouse gas emissions with 'unprecedented resolution', the MethaneSAT space probe was also funded by Wellington and the US-based environmental defence fund. Plagued with technical problems, the satellite recently stopped responding to its Earth-bound controllers. 'Clearly, this is a disappointing development,' said Andrew Johnson, a senior official at the New Zealand Space Agency. 'As those who work in the space sector know, space is inherently challenging, and every attempt – successful or not – pushes the boundaries of what we know and what we're capable of.' The environmental defence fund, which led the project, said it was 'difficult news' but would not be the end of its methane-tracking efforts. MethaneSAT was designed to measure emissions of the potent greenhouse gas, which fuels climate change by trapping heat in the planet's atmosphere. It has proven notoriously difficult to get accurate estimates of the methane emissions belched out by oil and gas projects around the globe. 'It was one of the most advanced methane tracking satellites in space, measuring methane emissions in oil and gas producing regions across the world,' the MethaneSAT team said. 'Remarkable' Project lead Steven Hamburg said initial data gleaned by the satellite was 'remarkable'. 'Recent measurements in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico revealed emissions three to five times higher than estimated by the US environmental protection agency, while emissions observed in the South Caspian region are over 10 times higher than reported,' Hamburg wrote on LinkedIn. MethaneSAT was launched into space in March 2024 on the back of a SpaceX rocket fired from California 'The engineering team is conducting a thorough investigation into the loss of communication,' MethaneSAT said. 'This is expected to take time. We will share what we learn.' Despite its shorter-than-expected lifespan, MethaneSAT hailed the mission as a 'remarkable success in terms of scientific and technological accomplishment'. Amazon founder Bezos pumped more than US$100 million into the project through his philanthropic Earth Fund. The satellite eventually succumbed after overcoming a string of technical glitches. It repeatedly entered a sleep, or stand-by, mode without prompting – forcing engineers to perform a lengthy reset each time. One of its three thrusters also failed.
