(Sept. 8, 2023) MethaneSAT will launch in early 2024, but we have been conducting flights, testing equipment, and gathering methane data with sensors installed on jet aircraft since 2021.
These flights are designed to validate, refine and showcase our revolutionary new approach to methane detection and quantification, which allows us to see not only where methane is coming from, but also how large emissions are and how much is leaking over time – something no other satellite or aircraft can do.
The first MethaneAIR flights took place over the Permian Basin in August 2021 aboard a modified Gulfstream V owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The initial flight covered over 9,000 square miles in just 2.2 hours.