Methane-Tracking Satellite Lost, New Zealand’s Space Ambitions Dented
A methane-tracking satellite, just before its planned handover to New Zealand, has been lost in space, casting a shadow over the nation’s budding space program and its goals to monitor greenhouse gas emissions.
Mission Impossible
The news hit hard for scientist Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, who leads New Zealand’s involvement in the mission. She described feeling deflated following confirmation that the satellite, intended to identify major methane polluters in the oil and gas sector, was likely unrecoverable after just 15 months.
The project, New Zealand’s first publicly funded space venture, was beleaguered by setbacks and postponements. Initially, the country invested NZ$29 million in MethaneSat, a project spearheaded by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in the US, with backing from organizations including the Bezos Earth Fund.
New Zealand’s Role and Investment
Beyond its primary objective of pinpointing methane emissions from global oil and gas operations, Mikaloff-Fletcher was exploring the satellite’s capability to monitor agricultural emissions, a significant contributor to New Zealand’s greenhouse gases. Livestock accounts for almost half the country’s emissions.
However, physicist Richard Easther from the University of Auckland, who was not involved in the project, expressed concern that New Zealand’s investment in MethaneSat was a mistake. He stated that the spacecraft’s design was not sufficiently defined at the time of New Zealand’s investment and that certain components “haven’t been tested in space”
.
Investigation and Future Prospects
Jon Coifman, a MethaneSat spokesperson, indicated the cause of the contact loss remains unclear, with an expert panel formed to investigate. He affirmed that existing datasets would remain accessible, with additional data to be released and that the team remains “undeterred in our efforts to drive down methane pollution”.
Despite the setback, Andrew Johnson, deputy head of the New Zealand Space Agency, emphasized that the mission had enhanced the country’s space expertise. The mission control center at the University of Auckland’s Te Pūnaha Ātea Space Institute will still serve as a training facility for future missions.
Comparable Missions
Mikaloff-Fletcher highlighted that other missions have faced similar difficulties. She noted “A great example is Nasa’s Orbital Carbon Observatory mission, meant to deliver the most precise measurements of carbon dioxide ever made from space. It was launched in 2009 and fell into the ocean without making a single measurement,”
while pointing out that subsequent satellites were launched to accomplish the mission.
Although the satellite’s operational life was shorter than anticipated, Mikaloff-Fletcher said that it did record data and that her work in the field will continue, expressing optimism that the project will provide insights into agricultural emissions from the data acquired.
The Bigger Picture
The failure arrives as global methane emissions remain stubbornly high. Despite pledges to cut methane, emissions from the energy sector alone reached 120 million tonnes in 2023, a slight increase from 2022 (IEA, 2024). The lost satellite represents a setback in efforts to accurately monitor and mitigate these emissions.
