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Boulder, Colorado, 14 September 2020. – Blue Canyon Technologies completed the Critical Design Review for the climate change monitoring MethaneSAT mission, the Colorado-based company said on 9 September.
Blue Canyon Technologies is manufacturing the micro-satellite for an advanced high-resolution detection and quantification of methane emissions from oil and gas facilities worldwide, the company said.
“Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with over 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years that it is in the atmosphere.” The company collaborates with with MethaneSAT LLC, Ball Aerospace and Harvard University. MethaneSAT is a subsidiary of the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund.
“The donor-funded mission will provide global, high-resolution detection and quantification of methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, as well as measure emissions from other human-generated methane sources,” Blue Canyon Technologies said. “The comprehensive data from MethaneSAT will be made available to the public, and provide companies, governments and other stakeholders with a new way to track, quantify and take actionable steps to reduce methane emissions.”
“This is a complex, technically challenging mission driven by the profound urgency of climate change. An intensive design process up front ensures that we can move quickly from here. The result is a more powerful measurement tool than even we thought possible,” Cassandra Ely, Director at MethaneSAT LLC, said. “Thanks to the dedicated efforts of our mission partners, MethaneSAT is now moving from the drawing boards and onto the assembly floor.”
“So much remains unknown about the true climate footprint of human beings,” Lorie Booth, Program Manager at Blue Canyon Technologies, said. “This mission will empower global leaders to make data-driven decisions about our fight against climate impact.”
Blue Canyon Technologies is currently building more than 90 spacecraft for government, commercial and academic missions and has recently opened its new headquarters and production facility in Lafayette, Colorado, the company said.
