Environmental Group Plans To Launch Its Own Methane-Tracking Satellite

"When the Environmental Defense Fund told commercial space guru Tom Ingersoll that it wanted to launch a satellite to measure methane from oil and gas operations, he says his reaction was “Whoa! You guys want to do what?”

Yet that’s what the EDF is doing. It is well on its way toward raising about $40 million. It has tapped into the work of Harvard University researchers to fine tune sensors. And it has reached out to Ingersoll and others in the commercial space business to create a device that will be able to measure methane emissions on a 125-mile wide swath with pixel resolution of less than  five-eighths of a mile.

EDF will also get support from TED Talks, which hopes to spur fundraising for a variety of causes through its “Audacious Project.”"

Steven Mufson reports for the Washington Post April 11, 2018.

SEE ALSO:

"An Eye in the Sky Could Detect Planet-Warming Plumes on the Ground" (New York Times)

"Environmental Group Plans Methane-Tracking Satellite" (NPR)