24 August 2022 - GHGSat Inc., a provider of high-resolution methane monitoring microsatellites, has scaled up, recently doubling its capacity after the launch of three new satellites on 11 August.
The three new satellites, GHGSat-C3 (Luca), C4 (Penny), and C5 (Diako), were built by Space Flight Laboratory (SFL). The first three, which have already identified more than 100 methane emissions, were added in May 2022 on SpaceX's Transporter-5 mission. GHGSat is set to further increase capacity following the launch of additional satellites by the end of 2023. The satellites are “the size of microwave ovens”, the company says, and they orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometres.
According to GHGSat, each microsatellite includes attitude control technology developed by SFL, which enables the low-inertia platforms to point their onboard sensors precisely at emissions sources (directly from industrial sites), allowing for high-quality imaging by maintaining fine pointing. Additionally, via a spacecraft communication system, data download speed has increased tenfold, theoretically enabling data users to respond promptly to detected methane leaks.
Although GHGSat’s target markets are mainly the oil and gas, coal mining and waste management sectors, their technology also detects agricultural methane emissions, and it can track sources of emissions to individual feedlots, pinpointing the source of even small leaks.
For instance, on 2 March this year, GHGSat microsatellites detected methane emissions coming from an agricultural area in California’s Joaquin Valley. Analysis later confirmed the source as being feedlots 10km southeast of Bakersfield.
“Five emissions were recorded, ranging in size from 361 to 668kg/h. If sustained for a year, this would result in 5,116 tonnes of gas being released - enough to power 15,402 homes,” GHGSat said in an announcement.
A variety of nutritional techniques to cut cow emissions are being tested and more methane-reducing feed additives are emerging. However, one can argue that accurate emissions measurement is deemed essential for animal nutrition and farm management strategies to be truly successful.
Besides, tackling livestock sector emissions has become a huge focus for countries worldwide and methane reduction targets are being set by governments. In this context, the discussion around the ability to track cattle farming greenhouse gas emissions from space seems to be a timely one.
We spoke with Jean-Francois Gauthier, VP of Measurements and Strategic Initiatives at GHGSat Inc., to get his views on the use of satellites for accurate methane measurement and what can be the wider implications for animal agriculture.
Measuring Methane Emissions Prior to the Satellite Launches
According to GHGSat, until now, practical solutions for measuring emissions have been elusive. For example, ground-based monitoring is labour intensive, and can only scan small areas. Aircraft-mounted sensors can cover more ground, but also at a high cost.
“There are measurement devices like flux chambers and spectroscopy instruments, and while it may be possible to measure at the individual animal level, scaling to a herd currently requires modelling and interpolations, based on assumptions and emissions factors to complement the limited measurements. This introduces a lot of error and uncertainty in the estimate,” Gauthier said.
“Recently, drones, aircraft and even satellite instruments have been deployed and show promise in measuring emissions at the herd level,” he added.
In Gauthier’s view, these other technologies such as drones and aircraft sensors are compatible with GHGSat’s solution and are not really considered competition.
Satellite Coverage
GHGSat claims that its satellites can monitor thousands of sites, every day, at a low cost and so support immediate climate action.
Asked what would be required to be able to monitor agricultural methane emissions for an entire region or even a nation – to get a wider view, Gauthier’s answer is ‘more satellites.’
“Our satellites make measurements in 12 km x 12 km snapshots. As we add more satellites to the constellation, it becomes possible to monitor more sites, more frequently, whether they are landfills, oil and gas facilities or agricultural sites,” Gauthier commented.
The Cost
And with the notion of scaling up and deploying more satellites comes the question of cost and affordability should livestock farmers wish to get hold of the methane measurement data.
Although Gauthier did not put a number on this, he pointed out that monitoring from space does not require the deployment of personnel or equipment on the ground since everything is done remotely.
“Measurements are also performed in seconds rather than hours or multiple days. As such, it is designed to provide good value to operators,” he said.
Gauthier went on to say: “If emissions from a particular agricultural operation are initially high enough for GHGSat’s satellites to measure, the possibility exists that subsequent measurements could show a reduction in emissions or a drop below the detection threshold after mitigating measures have been implemented,” implying that operators could eventually keep track of the efficacy of farm management and nutritional strategies used on livestock farms.
The Challenge
Emissions from agriculture are more challenging to measure because they tend to be more diffused. In other words, differentiating between cattle-induced methane emissions in feedlots and other types of methane emissions in the same location is a challenge.
“While GHGSat’s sensor is not able to differentiate between the different sources of methane based on chemical composition, the high spatial resolution of the sensor makes it possible to attribute emissions accurately to sources which may be in close proximity,” Gauthier said. “For example, we can easily differentiate between oil and gas pads in the Permian, and we’ve also differentiated between a feedlot and a leaking biodigester in the past.”
The Future
We asked Gauthier’s opinion on what the future could be like for livestock farms in a scenario whereby collected methane emissions data is the same for everyone in the chain (from farmers to consumers, to governments, etc.) and is shared by all and isn’t disputed.
He argued that the concept is not as far-fetched as it may seem as it is currently gaining momentum with natural gas.
“There is increasing evidence that consumers may be willing to pay a premium for ‘responsibly sourced gas’ from producers taking measures to control methane emissions along the value chain,” he commented. “The same could be conceivable in farming – consumers are already willing to pay a premium for organic vegetables, or eggs from free-range fowls, for example.”
As for GHGSat, the company currently has six satellites in orbit and the plan is to continue adding more in the coming years. “So, we can monitor more sites, more frequently, including agricultural sites,” Gauthier said.