LAS VEGAS – Methane-emissions data from GHGSat will be shared for scientific research through NASA’s Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition program.
Montreal-based GHGSat announced July 31 that the company’s data “successfully completed” NASA’s “rigorous evaluation process.”
“GHGSat is proud to contribute to NASA’s efforts to monitor and better understand greenhouse gas emissions worldwide,” Stéphane Germain, GHGSat president and CEO, said in a statement. “GHGSat’s unique satellite data and analytics, capable of attributing emissions directly to individual facilities, illuminate a critical piece of the climate puzzle. These insights accelerate global transparency in greenhouse gas emissions, advance critical research, and develop knowledge in the fight against climate change.”
Stamp of Approval
In May 2023, NASA asked GHGSat to provide methane-emissions data to the NASA Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition program for evaluation. In response, GHGSat submitted recent observations and archival data showing anthropogenic and natural greenhouse gas emissions detected over land and water in the United States and around the world. The data was evaluated by a panel of researchers from NASA centers, other U.S. government agencies and academia.
Now that the quality has been verified, GHGSat data will soon be available for scientific and other noncommercial applications through NASA’s Earthdata portal.
Expanding Portfolio
NASA established the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition pilot program in 2017 to see whether commercial observations could augment or complement government datasets. When principal investigators showed that the data acquired contributed to Earth-observation research and applications projects, NASA began buying datasets.
NASA announced last year that seven companies would compete for contracts with a maximum value of $476 million over five years. The companies — Airbus DS Geo, Capella Space, GHGSat, Maxar, PlanetiQ, Spire Global and Umbra — were selected under a fixed-price, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract.
NASA currently acquires data from Airbus U.S., Maxar Technologies, Planet, Spire Global and Teledyne Brown Engineering. In addition, NASA purchases high-resolution Digital Elevation Models from the EarthDEM Project, which includes the University of Minnesota’s Polar Geospatial Center, Ohio State University’s Byrd Polar Research Center, and the University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications.