A satellite thief, “the variable of the game”, has become dark

A 88 million dollar satellite, billionaire Jeff Bezos, was lost in space. Methanelsat, designed to inhale the sources of methane emissions around the world, survived only about 15 months in the Earth’s orbit before meeting its early end.

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which launched the satellite in March 2024, Declare Its demise on July 1. The organization revealed that Methansat was silent suddenly on June 20, and the task operations team has not been able to re -communicate since then. Now, they think the satellite has completely lost power. Stephen Hamburg, Senior Scientist at EDF and Meathanisat leader, He said Science was not a previous indication of a problem. He said: “Not in any better days or weeks.”

When Methanesat was launched, EDF promised that it would be a “changing games” to track methane emissions aimed at the planet, helping organizers to treat strong greenhouse gas points. In some respects, it was. For more than a year, this satellite helped identify industrial sources of methane emissions – primarily those produced by the oil and gas industry. This greenhouse gas is incredibly strong, 28 times trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere over a 100 -year period of carbon dioxide, according to Environmental Protection Agency.

Experts know methane emissions in the first place Stems From cultivation, fossil fuel production, landfill waste, but it is difficult to determine the sources of its points individually. Methanelsat, which was developed with the help of a $ 100 million grant from the Jeff Bezos Earth Fund, aims to facilitate this. While other satellites-such as the European Agency for Guardian Agency-5-Methan can plan on larger measures, Methansat can discover the latest spectrum in the entire oil and gas fields. At the same time, it was photographed in the hot points with unprecedented accuracy, which results in high -precision shots of methane “leakage”.

“Thanks to Methanesat, we gained a critical view of the distribution and size of methane that is launched from oil and gas production areas,” says EDF. “We have also developed an unprecedented ability to explain the measurements from space and translate them into quantities of methane launched. This will be valuable for other missions.”

However, the Methanelsat days have ended. This satellite was supposed to remain alive for five years in orbit, as it revolves around the Earth 15 times a day to produce a wealth of time available freely. This would make tracing and regulation of emissions much easier for both companies and organizers. Data were also available to stakeholders, including citizens, governments, investors and gas importers.

EDF hopes to live the satellite legacy. “EDF and Methanelsat are still committed to our primary goal of converting data into climate protection work, including reducing methane emissions from the global oil and gas industry,” the organization said. EDF will continue to process the data that it recovered from the satellite, with plans to issue additional images of regional methane emissions from fossil fuel production in the coming months. The group will also work with global partners to take advantage of the algorithms and associated programs that have been created to convert its observations into emissions, as well as high accuracy technology. Other satellites can benefit from these assets to fill the rear methanisa gap.

EDF did not share plans to launch another satellite. “We will temporarily stop,” Hamburg told science. “It is clear, we have suffered from a loss,” he said. “I have a large team of people who put their heart and soul in what many people said was impossible.” We hope to encourage other innovative Methanesat successes to continue its mission. “The solution to the climate challenge requires a bold work and risk, and this satellite was at the edge of science, technology and advocacy,” EDF stated.