A sneak peek BTS! 🛰️ The solar array panels that will power @MethaneSAT once in space are currently completing testing at @ballaerospace.
Quote from: Vultur on 02/12/2024 10:06 pmMethaneSAT is a really interesting precedent... basically an Earth science mission done by a private NGO, outside the usual governmental funding structure.It is really interesting. I'm curious what that organization will do going forward now that a bunch of commercial companies are bringing methane sensing capabilities online (which really wasn't the case yet when the MethaneSAT project started.)
MethaneSAT is a really interesting precedent... basically an Earth science mission done by a private NGO, outside the usual governmental funding structure.
We’re counting down the days to the launch of @MethaneSAT. While we’ll be commanding and operating the spacecraft once it’s in orbit, there’s a climate-change-focused science program at @NIWA that’s ready to use MethaneSAT’s data to track agricultural methane emissions in New Zealand.
Feb 14, 2024 NEW ZEALAND“If you're thinking about how fast climate change is happening and how we can slow things down right now, tackling methane is one of the fastest ways we can do this.” NIWA scientists are gearing up for the launch of a satellite that will measure methane emissions from fossil fuels and agriculture from space. The launch is part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s MethaneSAT agricultural emissions programme, a global initiative led by the US Environmental Defense Fund to track and reduce methane emissions around the world. The US project is focused on methane leaks from oil and gas production, while the New Zealand-led programme is studying global emissions from agriculture, such as ruminant farming and rice production. New Zealand is a perfect test ground for the MethaneSAT agricultural programme because of its an unusual greenhouse gas profile. While carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas for most developed countries, New Zealand’s biggest source of emissions is methane, largely due to our high levels of agriculture. The agricultural research programme is a collaboration between experts across New Zealand, including NIWA, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, University of Waikato, and Victoria University of Wellington, and the US based science team at Harvard University, EDF, and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The project is funded by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment. Partners RocketLab and the University of Auckland’s Te Pūnaha Ātea-Auckland Space Institute are establishing and operating mission control for the satellite.
Go MethaneSAT! We’re stoked to support this important climate change mission by @EnvDefenseFund in partnership with @MBIEgovtnz, @AucklandUni & @NiwaWeather. We’ll be collecting MethaneSAT’s data to share amongst the international scientists in its program, while also running mission operations from our control room, and training up the next generation of mission operators along the way for them to then take over at the University of Auckland.
MethaneSAT has successfully separated from the @SpaceX #Falcon9! We're in orbit 🌌The spacecraft will now boot up its computer and 'detumble', using its actuators to slow down the spinning caused by the deployment.
MethaneSAT, LLC (“MethaneSAT”) respectfully requests special temporary authorization for 90 days, beginning December 24, 2024, to operate the MethaneSAT-1 satellite (the “Satellite”) at orbital altitudes between 580 km and 570 km.1The Satellite is a non-geostationary satellite operating in low Earth orbit in the Earth Exploration Satellite Service pursuant to an authorization granted by the Commission earlier this year.2 Under the terms of that authorization, MethaneSAT is required to operate the Satellite at an orbital altitude of 590 km, +/- 10 km. MethaneSAT has recently experienced technical difficulties with the Satellite’s onboard propulsion, requiring periodic resets of the thrusters to return to the appropriate operational mode. While MethaneSAT has worked diligently to troubleshoot these technical difficulties with the Satellite’s manufacturer, the Satellite’s orbit has gradually degraded. As a result of such degradation, MethaneSAT now anticipates that the Satellite may drop below 580 km in orbital altitude on or about December 24-25, 2024. MethaneSAT continues to troubleshoot and work to implement corrective actions for the Satellite’s onboard propulsion but may not be able to maintain the Satellite at an orbital altitude above 580 km as required by the terms of its authorization.
MethaneSAT, LLC (“MethaneSAT”) respectfully requests special temporary authorization for 30 days, beginning January 10, 2025, to operate the MethaneSAT-1 satellite (the “Satellite”) at orbital altitudes between 580 km and 570 km. MethaneSAT has a pending request for special temporary authorization for 90 days to operate the Satellite at the same orbital altitudes, and submits this request while its prior request for special temporary authorization remains under consideration. The Satellite is a non-geostationary satellite operating in low Earth orbit in the Earth Exploration Satellite Service pursuant to an authorization granted by the Commission in 2024.Under the terms of that authorization, MethaneSAT is required to operate the Satellite at an orbital altitude of 590 km, +/- 10 km. MethaneSAT has recently experienced technical difficulties with the Satellite’s onboard propulsion, requiring periodic resets of the thrusters to return to the appropriate operational mode. While MethaneSAT has worked diligently to troubleshoot these technical difficulties with the Satellite’s manufacturer, the Satellite’s orbit has gradually degraded, and its altitude is approximately 579.2 km at the time of this filing. MethaneSAT continues to troubleshoot and work to implement corrective actions for the Satellite’s onboard propulsion but has not been able to maintain the Satellite at an orbital altitude above 580 km as required by the terms of its authorization.
Methane tracker lost in spaceLess than 15 months into a scheduled 5-year mission, a pioneering satellite built to track rogue emissions of planet-warming methane has been lost.(...)Scientists have been unable to communicate with the satellite since 20 June, when it unexpectedly went silent.
The investigation concluded that the MethaneSAT anomaly was due to a solitary event that spread to, or began within, one of two subsystems; affecting either the flight avionics unit (a spacecraft computer subsystem which executed commands, maintained attitude and controlled communications) or the electrical power subsystem, which is responsible for providing power to most other spacecraft components, subsystems, and payloads.
Three possible contributors to the failure of the flight avionics or electrical subsystem onMethaneSAT were identified:• A printed circuit board failure within the spacecraft bus avionics;• An electronic component or printed circuit board failure on a spacecraft bus interface; or• A thruster or associated system failure which sent high current to other bus subsystems.Based on the limited data available, it is not possible to state the relative likelihood among thesepossible factors.In addition to identifying likely contributors to the anomaly, the investigation identified andevaluated several factors that were determined to be less likely contributors. While these weredetermined to have a very low probability of being the root cause, they cannot be fully ruled out.• A micrometeoroid or orbital debris event;• A destructive radiation event effect impacting a component or software caused by ahigh-energy solar particle strike (such as a cosmic ray);• A space environment induced electrostatic spacecraft event;• A flight avionics unit to electronics subsystem communications error; or• Unexpected fault system interactions.These should all be considered equally likely, but individually they are significantly less likelythan the three possible contributors identified by the investigation.
