Download PDF

The Environmental Defense Fund (“EDF”) announced in a January 10th news release it signed contracts with two aerospace companies that will compete for the opportunity to construct the organization’s planned satellite project titled MethaneSAT.

EDF describes MethaneSAT as a program that will quantify and map methane emissions from facilities.

The environmental organization states that it will work with Ball Aerospace and SSL (Maxar Technology Company):

. . . to refine designs and program plans to meet the performance, cost and scheduling requirements of the MethaneSAT project.

One mission partner will then be chosen to construct the satellite.

The satellite is described as a methane-measuring instrument.

MethaneSAT is described as using the latest scientific and technological innovations in sensor design, spectroscopy, data retrieval algorithms and flux inversions, a state-of-the-art modeling technique to distinguish emissions from ambient methane and trace them back to their source.

The two proposals are to be evaluated and vendor chosen by EDF experts and various referenced advisors.

EDF states the satellite is scheduled to launch in 2021.

A copy of the news release can be found here.