Tanager-1 is the first in a series of satellites initiated by a public-private partnership led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper. This coalition, which includes JPL, Planet Labs, RMI, and Arizona State University, is backed by several philanthropic organizations such as the High Tide Foundation, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, and the Zegar Family Foundation.
"There is more momentum than ever to act on climate. But a lack of public and private investment in global methane and CO2 monitoring has left gaps that leave many emissions untracked and unaddressed," said Richard Lawrence, Founder and Executive Chairman of High Tide Foundation. "With the launch of Tanager-1 we are scaling up high impact monitoring to drive transparency of super-emitters everywhere and grow society's collective capacity to be a big part of the solution."
"Data from this satellite will dramatically improve our ability to pinpoint leaks of methane and CO2 and ensure action is taken to stop them," said Michael R. Bloomberg, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions and Founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies. "It's a great example of how new technology can lead to more transparency and faster progress in cutting emissions - which is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change."
Methane, which is over 80 times more potent than CO2 in terms of heat retention, is responsible for about 30% of the global temperature increase to date. Because methane has a relatively short atmospheric lifespan of about a decade, addressing these emissions is a key step in slowing the rate of global temperature rise.
Tanager-1's advanced capabilities allow it to identify methane super-emitters - facilities or equipment that emit more than 100 kilograms per hour - across sectors such as fossil fuels, waste, and agriculture. The satellite's high-resolution data is intended to empower industry leaders, policymakers, regulators, and civil society to take targeted actions to mitigate emissions. Beyond climate benefits, reducing methane emissions can also improve air quality and public health by lowering the levels of toxic co-pollutants.
"Methane super-emitters represent a disproportionate climate risk and opportunity - contributing up to 20 - 60% of a region's total emissions in some sectors. We have shown that finding and fixing these emissions can result in large reductions that, with sustained monitoring, can stay mitigated," said Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper Co-Founder and CEO. "Observations from Tanager will enable Carbon Mapper to grow its publicly available data, and this first satellite is an exciting step toward our goal to scale up a full constellation of satellites to detect and track up to 90% of super-emitting sources globally with daily frequency or better."
Carbon Mapper's earlier regional demonstration projects, which used aircraft equipped with imaging spectrometers from Arizona State University and JPL, revealed that nearly half of the super-emitting events identified were previously unknown but could be mitigated once detected.
"The launch of Tanager-1 continues the crucial work of locating greenhouse gas emissions sources with a degree of resolution that will enable stakeholders to take action," said James Graf, director of JPL's Earth Science and Technology Directorate. "We are excited to see the JPL imaging spectrometer technology providing direct societal impact. We also see great promise in tackling other environmental challenges through public-private partnerships as demonstrated by the Carbon Mapper Coalition."
"The Tanager-1 mission will use incredible technology to pinpoint emitters and guide action to stop them. This is a remarkable coalition that we are incredibly proud to be a part of," said Will Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet. "Combining cutting-edge imaging spectrometer technology from JPL with an innovative smallsat bus from Planet and data processing from Carbon Mapper, the consortium itself is a powerful example of actors coming together to solve hard world challenges. We expect its impact on methane emitters to have a lasting, positive impact on the planet."
A core component of Carbon Mapper's mission is to make its methane and CO2 data available to the public through an online portal for noncommercial use. This platform currently hosts tens of thousands of emissions plumes detected from air and space and will soon include data from Tanager-1. This initiative aims to enhance data transparency, increase accountability, prioritize solutions, and help society achieve its climate goals.
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