The UK Space Agency has committed to a new contract with GHGSat for the supply of satellite data on methane gas emissions across the UK and internationally.
The Satellite Applications Catapult has agreed on the £5.5 million contract on behalf of the agency, saying the company is the only known supplier with the capability to detect methane at a very high spatial resolution.
The move will contribute to UK efforts to monitor and take action against climate change.
According to the contract award notice the deal provides access to new and archived data for multiple users through the company’s service platform, with deliverables including datasets for select locations with multi-layered images on methane concentrations and surface reflectance.
It also involves the provision of a concentration map of emissions.
GHGSat’s satellites are able to provide coverage in any region of the world of interest to UK stakeholders and feature the Wide Angle Fabry-Perot instrument that can be tuned to measure methane and CO2 onshore and offshore.