SpaceX Will Launch a Methane Satellite to Track Super Polluters

There’s about to be a new methane eye in the sky. SpaceX is scheduled to launch on Friday the Tanager-1 satellite.

The nonprofit Carbon Mapper is behind the satellite and will make the data available once it’s operational in the coming months. Tanager-1 is the second methane-detecting satellite launched in the past six months by a nonprofit, reflecting the growing scrutiny around the potent greenhouse gas and the satellites’ low cost relative to others used for atmospheric monitoring.

Developed by Planet Labs PBC with technology from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Tanager-1 will be able to help pinpoint methane and carbon dioxide emissions from ...