China launches new satellite to monitor methane emissions

China on Monday launched the Lijian-1 Y5 commercial carrier rocket, carrying 15 satellites, including the Xiguang-1 04 satellite, China's first high-resolution methane monitoring commercial satellite.

The rocket blasted off at 12:03 p.m. from a commercial aerospace innovation pilot zone in northwest China.

According to the satellite developer, Xiopm SPACE, a commercial space company established by the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the satellite is equipped with a methane camera, a chlorophyll camera and a multi-spectral camera.

The satellite has multiple functions, including methane emission monitoring, trend tracking, carbon source identification and carbon neutrality capability assessment.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that significantly impacts global warming.

The satellite will provide high-frequency, high-precision observations of methane leaks from point sources worldwide, offering both data and technical support for building a comprehensive methane emission supervision system.

It will not only strengthen China's efforts in ecological and environmental protection, industrial emission supervision, and gas leak detection, but also enhance China's influence in the global push for carbon neutrality.

According to Qin Jing, chairperson and general manager of Xiopm SPACE, the successful launch of the Xiguang-1 04 satellite marks an important breakthrough in high-resolution methane monitoring, demonstrating China's strength in space technology and emphasizing the country's determination to tackle global climate change.

The batch of satellites launched on Monday also includes the Xiguang-1 05 satellite, which is equipped with a hyper-spectral camera and a panchromatic camera. It can be widely used in agricultural monitoring, mineral exploration and environmental surveillance.

Qin also revealed that the company is developing a new generation of high-resolution methane monitoring satellites and carbon monitoring satellites to meet domestic and international market demands. The Xiguang-1 series hyper-spectral remote sensing satellite constellation is an example of these efforts.

(Cover image a screen grab. /CMG )