The instrument will enable nonprofit organization Carbon Mapper to pinpoint and measure methane and carbon dioxide sources from space.
A state-of-the-art imaging spectrometer, which will measure the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide from space, moved closer to launch this month after being delivered to a clean room at Planet Labs PBC (Planet) in San Francisco.
Designed and built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, this science instrument will be part of an effort led by the nonprofit Carbon Mapper organization to collect data on greenhouse gas point-source emissions. Built around technologies developed for NASA airborne campaigns and space missions, the Carbon Mapper imaging spectrometer will provide targeted data on “super-emitters” – the small percentage of individual sources responsible for a significant fraction of global methane and carbon dioxide emissions.
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Image: The imaging spectrometer, which will measure the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide, sits at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in August, before shipment to Planet Labs PBC in San Francisco. The instrument will be integrated into a Tanager satellite over the next several months.
(Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech)