For nearly a year, UCLA’s STOP Methane Project has published reports and user-friendly rankings of top methane emitters in various sectors thanks to the satellite data of Carbon Mapper. Our ability to do this work is about to get a rocket boost. Literally.
On October 1, the Tanager-2 satellite will launch into orbit aboard the SpaceX Transporter-18 mission, and we’re watching this moment closely. Tanager-2 is the second satellite in a growing constellation led by Carbon Mapper, the independent non-profit that uses observations from space to help drive methane mitigation action on the ground.
We use Carbon Mapper’s public data portal to analyze methane plumes and to help shine a spotlight on some of the biggest opportunities for mitigation of methane pollution. This is extremely valuable data. Our reports have included global rankings of oil & gas sites as well as global lists for the waste sector. We recently focused on repeated methane emission events in the largest oil & gas basins in the U.S. We just shared this fascinating story from Kentucky about how Carbon Mapper data helped identify a large gas leak. This work has driven attention and action from Turkmenistan to Buenos Aires to Indonesia, Mumbai and Chile. We are currently working on multiple reports related to landfills.
So, we look forward to scaling up our methane impact with Tanager-2. A second satellite means more observations across key locations, yielding more methane data, more often — growing our ability to make emissions more transparent and actionable.
Join us in following the launch live at spaceX.com and read more here.