More than a year after announcing an ambitious mission to send a satellite into space to detect methane emissions, the Environmental Defense Fund is marking milestones as it moves closer to launch.

The satellite is part of an $88 million donor-funded effort led by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a New York-headquartered nonprofit environmental advocacy group. MethaneSAT, an affiliate of EDF, said the satellite will pinpoint methane-emitting sites and the magnitude of such emissions.

Hopes are to launch the satellite by first-half 2022 to support EDF’s efforts to cut 45% of methane pollution from oil and gas sites by 2025. EDF, which has partnered with oil and gas companies on environmental pursuits, plans to continue doing so with methane emissions data and knowledge of technological solutions in hand.

“Our objective is to understand emissions from the oil and gas sector, and so we are putting together a list of where that infrastructure is located globally,” Tom Ingersoll, MethaneSAT project director and former CEO of Skybox Imaging, told Hart Energy. “We’ll be imaging those regions.”

MethaneSAT will be equipped with a pair of sensors, according to Ingersoll. While the satellite will detect methane concentration over a certain area, the team aims to convert that data into leak rate. Key to obtaining data from space will be successful ground communications linked to the orbiting satellite.

MethaneSAT was announced in April 2018 during TED2018 as part of The Audacious Project: Collaborative Philanthropy for Bold Ideas. Since then, several milestones have been accomplished. These include:

  • Refined requirements around the science and the satellite’s sensors, so its design yields the greatest accuracy and picks up desired signals, as part of the systems requirements review process;
  • Selected Ball Aerospace as the methane-detection payload provider and Blue Canyon Technologies to supply the platform for the satellite;
  • Started the preliminary design review, a process during which project requirements and design concepts go through rigorous analysis. The intent is to make sure the systems can accomplish the objective, Ingersoll said, adding long lead parts are ordered; and
  • Issued a request for proposal to the rocket industry with responses expected this week. MethaneSAT anticipates selecting a launch provider by the end of the first quarter.

“Methane is a growing challenge for the industry and it’s a challenge for operators of all sizes and at every step of the supply chain,” EDF President Fred Krupp said. “Transparency is key, and new technologies are making these invisible problems visible to investors, employees and regulators.”

EDF’s efforts come as the world turns more toward natural gas to displace coal, which emits more CO₂, and the industry continues efforts to bring down methane emissions further.

Global emissions data will be made available to the public in hopes of expanding its knowledge of the problem and opportunities to solve it, according to EDF.

MethaneSAT will create actionable data for industry and others, fitting into the ongoing digitalization that’s already underway, Krupp added.

“We are currently working with many oil and gas companies and we definitely do plan to continue to do that work after the data is generated,” he said.

Check out the March 2020 issue of Oil and Gas Investor for more on MethaneSAT.