California Satellite Partnership

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The State of California has partnered with Carbon Mapper (a new non-profit), Planet, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) , the University of Arizona, Arizona State University (ASU), The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and several philanthropic entities, including the High Tide Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, and other donors on the deployment of satellites using ground-breaking hyperspectral technology. The technology can pinpoint and quantify leaks and other emissions of methane and carbon dioxide. This effort builds upon a successful partnership between CARB, the California Energy Commission, and NASA JPL on a statewide study to identify large methane sources across California. That study, called the California Methane Survey, used the same technology envisioned for the satellites but mounted on airplanes to 'see' methane emissions. The new collaboration will initially be managed by a nonprofit organization called "Carbon Mapper" (https://carbonmapper.org/) which has a long-term public good mission to deliver global methane and carbon dioxide data sets from the constellation. Carbon Mapper is on track to launch two satellites in 2023, enabling quicker detection, quantification, and visualization of high emitting methane and CO2 emission sources. The ultimate goal of the partnership is to launch a constellation of satellites that can provide regular, complete, precise, and timely measurement of methane and CO2 source level emissions as well as over 25 other environmental indicators. The California Air Resources Board is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with successful regulatory programs targeting methane and CO2 and will continue to explore how best to use this new information to mitigate emissions even further. CARB will continue to work with other jurisdictions to successfully reduce methane emissions through policy and new data sources such as satellite based observations.
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California Methane Source Finder

Methane Source Finder (MSF) is a data system developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory which streamlines the visualization of airborne methane remote sensing data products. The MSF portal allows public access to the data collected during these airborne surveys, and view the surrounding source. This California edition showcases data collected within California borders that were funded by California state agencies. The MSF is envisioned to be the repository for the publicly available data from the satellites. CARB is also making changes to allow operational use of the application.

Click here to launch the California Methane Source Finder

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Project Status

The satellite partnership will be a game-changer in mitigating methane worldwide. Carbon Mapper, in collaboration with its public and private partners, is developing the satellite constellation in phases. Launch of two demonstration satellites will take place in 2023, and expansion to a full constellation, with tens of satellites, is envisioned for 2025.

Project Timeline

Surveys:

Airborne surveys, where imaging spectrometers have been placed in planes, have informed the need for persistent observations of methane plumes both in the US and specifically in California:

  • California Methane Survey: The California Satellite effort builds upon the success of the California Methane Survey, a ground-breaking research project conducted from 2016-2018 that was aimed to help identify and quantify the occurrence of large emission sources of methane using advanced research-grade technologies. The survey found, as other surveys have found elsewhere, that an important fraction of total methane emissions occur as individual large leaks. and while individual plumes are intermittent, their numbers and emissions are relatively steady system-wide. If mitigated, these emission reductions could meaningfully reduce the climate burden of atmospheric methane.
  • Fall Campaign: In 2020, CARB, NASA/JPL and the University of Arizona conducted another airborne campaign as a 'dry-run' to prepare the data pipeline and mitigation program for the potential satellite observational platform. CARB worked with industry partners (oil and gas, utilities, and waste operators) to share information on large methane leaks with the operators in near-real-time, and  the industry partners deployed boots on the ground to investigate the identified methane plumes, mitigate observed leaks, and report back to CARB on their findings. The final report for this effort is available here. 

System Construction and Development:

  • The initial study phase is complete and included two years of preliminary engineering development and manufacturing.
  • Construction of the core elements of the space-worthy instrument began in the middle of 2019. The silicon wafers needed have been 'grown' and are now being assembled and tested into the focal plane arrays that constitute the core of the instrument. It will detect methane and carbon dioxide, along with several other land-use products.
  • Phase 1 is underway and includes development of the first two satellites by Planet and NASA JPL, accompanying data processing platforms, and ongoing cooperative methane mitigation pilot projects using aircraft in California and other US states.

Program Development:

CARB staff and the Carbon Mapper team continue to work on other elements of the science and programming to improve the quality of the data and reduce the time it takes to get results and collaborate with other jurisdictions beyond California to use the data. This includes:

  • Developing capacity within CARB to be able to handle and validate data stream
  • Working on infrastructure database and infrastructure owners
  • Working on models to help optimize satellite targeting (where it looks) to maximize the mitigation potential of the data and to identify methane plumes in communities that live next to major pollution sources
  • Carbon Mapper, in collaboration with CARB, is also developing a public portal to make the data available for use by industry, governments, and private citizens to improve greenhouse gas accounting, expedite repair of leaks, support disaster response, improve environmental resilience, and identify methane plumes occurring in California communities.

Launch:

  • Phase 1 launch of the first satellite is expected in  2023
  • Phase 2, which is in development, would encompass the expansion to an operational multi-satellite constellation starting in 2025.