NASA Launches Device to Measure Global Carbon, Methane

NASA has launched a device to measure global carbon and methane levels, as part of efforts to help combat climate change.

The device was attached to a satellite called Tanager-1. It launched on Aug. 16 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Ground controllers reported successfully establishing communications with the satellite shortly after launch.

Statement from NASA He said The satellite is equipped with a gas detector using imaging spectrometry technology. An imaging spectrometer is a device used to study the chemical composition and structure of materials.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed the imaging spectrometer. Other organizations, including Planet Labs PBC, also participated in the joint project. The private company helped build the Tanager-1 satellite.

Tanager-1 is one of two satellites being developed as part of the public-private partnership in the Carbon Mapper consortium. The other satellite has not yet been launched.

Alliance He says It aims to support the collection of detailed data on methane and carbon dioxide. Emissions Around the world. The coalition hopes to use the data to drive cuts in methane and carbon pollution. Scientists have linked carbon and methane emissions to rising global temperatures. Many climate experts blame most of the warming on pollution caused by human activities.

NASA says the instrument aboard Tanager-1 measures “hundreds of wavelengths of light that mirror “By the Earth’s surface.” This method allows the device to find sources of carbon and methane based on the wavelengths of light they emit.

This process produces “fingerprints” that the spectrometer can recognize, NASA said. This data can be used to provide extremely detailed information about where the world’s carbon and methane come from. The level of detail is so fine that it can even identify “individuals” living on the planet. amenities The space agency added that the “spacecraft and equipment” will join the “global space program.”

“The imaging spectrometer technology is the product of more than 40 years of NASA development,” said Lori Leshin, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is based in Pasadena, California, in a statement. Such detailed emissions data can help policymakers, governments and environmental organizations around the world, Leshin added.

When fully operational, Tanager-1 will aim to capture data across 130,000 square kilometers of Earth’s surface each day. That will allow scientists to pinpoint specific gas clouds that release carbon dioxide and methane. NASA said the collected data will be publicly available online at Carbon Mapper Data Portal.

NASA says about half of all methane emissions worldwide are caused by human activities. The biggest polluters are called “toxic gases.” MotivatorsCarbon Mapper Alliance CEO Riley Doreen told Reuters that large emitters produce more than 100 kilograms of methane per hour. Doreen said that level of emissions could add up to 20 to 60 percent of a region’s total emissions in some industries.

In addition, the agency noted that “there is now 50 percent more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there was in 1750, an increase largely due to extraction Burning coal, oil and natural gas.

The Carbon Maps Alliance is a good example of “how organizations from different backgrounds can work together to address climate change,” Doreen said in a statement. Sectors “The world is uniting around a common goal of addressing climate change,” he added. Being able to accurately identify the sources of carbon and methane “can drive significant action around the world to reduce emissions now,” he added.

The launch of Tanager-1 comes after NASA launched its PACE satellite in February. It is designed to closely study the world’s oceans and atmosphere. PACE stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem. The satellite will spend at least three years studying the environment from an orbit 676 kilometers above Earth’s surface.

I’m Brian Lane.

Brian Lin wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from Reuters, NASA and the Carbon Mapper Alliance.

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Words in this story

emission – N. The process of sending something such as gas, heat, or light.

Reflects – N. send or return something

Facility – N. the place where a particular activity takes place

Issued – an act Sending gas, heat, light, etc. into the air

Extract – an act to take something, especially by force

sector – N. Part of the state economy