An orbital sensor able to detect carbon dioxide emissions from industrial facilities and other sources has been launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It is the first such sensor able to pinpoint CO2 emissions from individual industrial facilities such as power plants.
The sensor, designated ‘Vanguard’, has been developed by emissions detection specialist GHGSat and will provide high-resolution CO2 data measured at individual sites. It will be able to gather date from nine satellites to make over two million measurements annually, on and offshore, providing data to NASA, ESA and the United Nations.
This technology will change how emissions are monitored, and provide greater support for the task of decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors and power plants.
There are public CO2 sensing satellites currently operating in orbit, but Vanguard can home in on individual targets and accurately attribute emissions. This will allow operators of industrial complexes and power plants to access emissions data, supplementing the Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) already in place, and providing independent verification to improve environmental, social and governance reporting.
Stephane Germain, CEO at GHGSat, commented: “With regulators, investors and the public increasingly holding companies to account for both their direct and indirect emissions, there is little doubt that better CO2 data is needed. Trusted, independent data will help incentivise industry to manage its emissions effectively. It will ensure that climate policies are well-founded. Above all, it will help all of us stay on track to achieve Net Zero by 2050.”
Vanguard was launched into space on board SpaceX’s Falcon 9 during the Transporter-9 mission via Exolaunch. The GHGSat sensor payloads were built by ABB in Canada and integrated into satellites designed, built and operated by Spire Global. GHGSat satellites circle the planet in a sun-synchronous polar orbit around 500 km from Earth. They follow a north–south trajectory, passing over, or near, the Earth’s poles, completing a full orbit in about 90 minutes.
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