Environmental activists to build methane-detecting satellite
What could possibly go wrong? The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), historically one of the U.S.’s most partisan and aggressive environmental activist groups, has announced that it has raised millions to build a satellite to measure atmospheric methane, with a launch aimed for 2020.
The EDF, which is based in New York City, aims to launch the satellite as early as 2020. The environmental group and its scientific partners at Harvard University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, say that their planned ‘MethaneSAT’ will make the most precise measurements of methane yet from space. Their goal is to monitor emissions from roughly 50 major oil and gas fields that account for around 80% of the world’s oil and gas production. But the satellite could also be used to estimate emissions from landfills and agriculture.
“We need good solid data so that we really can support global action on climate change, and we’ve got to do it fast,” says Steven Hamburg, the EDF’s chief scientist.
MethaneSAT is an offshoot of the EDF’s research on greenhouse-gas emissions from US oil and gas facilities. In 2012, the group spearheaded a collaboration with industry and academic scientists to better quantify methane emissions and identify leaky infrastructure, from the wellhead all the way to the urban distribution system. That work is ongoing, but suggests that methane emissions from oil and gas facilities exceed US government estimates. Last year, the EDF helped to launch another collaboration with industry partners, governments and academics to carry that research forward internationally. [emphasis mine]
While I applaud their effort to do real research, I have serious concerns about the objectivity of their work. It appears they are aiming this satellite to look specifically at oil and gas facilities, the big enemies of the global-warming community, and clearly wish to document evidence for human-caused global warming. Thus, it will not be surprising if their research results end up biased in these directions.
Nonetheless, this project’s funding, much of it from private sources, highlights the on-going shift away from government money for the funding of space missions, as did my previous post As noted at the link above,
The EDF declined to provide a precise cost estimate for its satellite because the design remains in flux, but said that it is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars. The group is seeking extra support from philanthropists to operate the satellite once it’s in orbit. All the data will be freely available. Hamburg says that the project provides a new model for funding targeted space missions. “We’re going to be the first, but I think we’re going to see this approach be used by others as well,” he says.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
What could possibly go wrong? The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), historically one of the U.S.’s most partisan and aggressive environmental activist groups, has announced that it has raised millions to build a satellite to measure atmospheric methane, with a launch aimed for 2020.
The EDF, which is based in New York City, aims to launch the satellite as early as 2020. The environmental group and its scientific partners at Harvard University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, say that their planned ‘MethaneSAT’ will make the most precise measurements of methane yet from space. Their goal is to monitor emissions from roughly 50 major oil and gas fields that account for around 80% of the world’s oil and gas production. But the satellite could also be used to estimate emissions from landfills and agriculture.
“We need good solid data so that we really can support global action on climate change, and we’ve got to do it fast,” says Steven Hamburg, the EDF’s chief scientist.
MethaneSAT is an offshoot of the EDF’s research on greenhouse-gas emissions from US oil and gas facilities. In 2012, the group spearheaded a collaboration with industry and academic scientists to better quantify methane emissions and identify leaky infrastructure, from the wellhead all the way to the urban distribution system. That work is ongoing, but suggests that methane emissions from oil and gas facilities exceed US government estimates. Last year, the EDF helped to launch another collaboration with industry partners, governments and academics to carry that research forward internationally. [emphasis mine]
While I applaud their effort to do real research, I have serious concerns about the objectivity of their work. It appears they are aiming this satellite to look specifically at oil and gas facilities, the big enemies of the global-warming community, and clearly wish to document evidence for human-caused global warming. Thus, it will not be surprising if their research results end up biased in these directions.
Nonetheless, this project’s funding, much of it from private sources, highlights the on-going shift away from government money for the funding of space missions, as did my previous post As noted at the link above,
The EDF declined to provide a precise cost estimate for its satellite because the design remains in flux, but said that it is likely to be in the tens of millions of dollars. The group is seeking extra support from philanthropists to operate the satellite once it’s in orbit. All the data will be freely available. Hamburg says that the project provides a new model for funding targeted space missions. “We’re going to be the first, but I think we’re going to see this approach be used by others as well,” he says.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I found this on phys.org. Interesting if you can get past their GHG statements.
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-biologically-membrane-purges-coal-fired-greenhouse.html
Particularly, the last paragraph is very exciting.
Hopefully they use a Soyuz rocket to launch it and a Northrop Grumman fairing to hold it.
@ Kyle: That’s funny.
I support the use of private funds to realize large projects, no matter the ideological bent. The process of convincing others to buy in to an idea empowers the individual, rather than transferring that power to the State. It’s the idea the United States was founded on, and we need more of it.
MarcusZ1967: Good catch. I am posting on the main page, giving you a hat tip.
Kevin – I agree but where does one go to find environmentally-correct sensors?
Sorry – did not sign my name properly. Come to think on it change “environmentally-correct’ to ‘politically-correct’
“We need good solid data so that we really can support global action on climate change, and we’ve got to do it fast,”
This state statement leads me to believe that the satellite has been pre-programmed with some very damning information which will allow them to get government funding and political clout to pass laws against their perceived enemies, taxing Energy producers and consumers with a vengeance because they have “to support global action” and “do it fast!” After all, it’s taken 16,000 years, since the last Ice Age, to develop our climate to be where it is now. There is no time to waste.
Would it not cost a lot less to buy the information from other satellites already in space?
http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2017/10/17/innovative-satellite-launched-for-monitoring-global-methane-and-air-quality/
https://www.satelytics.com/resources/2017-infographic-detecting-methane-leaks-using-satellite-imagery-and-satelytics/
http://blogs.edf.org/energyexchange/2017/10/02/nasa-helped-locate-over-300-methane-hot-spots-across-california/
https://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-5P/Tropomi
It would appear that they have their own agenda, they have a solution that needs a problem to solve.
Methane has no correlation with climate change or even weather change. At 1.8 ppm, it is one of the rarest gases in our atmosphere. It is 222 times less abundant than CO2. Four times less abundant than helium.
To make understanding of parts per million easier, think of $1 million dollars. That’s 100 stacks of $100 dollar bills, 100 bills high. Carbon dioxide, at 400 ppm, would be 4 bills off one stack… methane would be 1 dollar and .80 cents!
(by the way, cows cannot make methane, only anaerobic bacteria can. If cows did not eat hay and grass, the fields would die back in the winter and rot on the ground turning into methane anyway…)
It is impossible for methane to last very long in the presence of oxygen. It quickly oxidizes and turns into carbon dioxide and water. Anyone who has cooked on a gas stove is familiar with its properties. Your local natural gas company can give you accurate information on how long it takes for methane to disappear.
It has taken billions of years to reach 1.8 ppm, how many billions more will it take to reach 2 parts per million? The methane controversy is the pinnacle of junk science.
This might also turn out like NASA’s OCO-2 satellite.
http://euanmearns.com/co2-the-view-from-space/
As Max noted, the article says: “‘We need good solid data so that we really can support global action on climate change, and we’ve got to do it fast,’ says Steven Hamburg, the EDF’s chief scientist.”
This shows that when it comes to climate science, people are in a panic. But then again, when you lack good solid data to support the desired global action, what else is there to do?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKaQLYPf5hM#t=109