Europes carbon dioxide monitoring mission elevated to the power of three
Building on the initial contract to develop two satellites for the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission, the European Commission and ESA have now entrusted OHB System AG with the development of a third satellite.
This addition will accelerate global coverage, enabling faster and more comprehensive measurements of carbon dioxide and methane emissions from human activities to enhance the evaluation of climate mitigation efforts.
The implementation of this third satellite was announced today at the 17th Space Conference in Brussels.
ESA's Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, said, "Given the climate crisis, the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring, or CO2M, mission is a high-priority mission for the European Commission, and is one of the most important missions we have under development.
"Remarkably, CO2M will make it possible to distinguish between natural and human-induced sources of carbon dioxide and methane ? an immense challenge given the numerous sources with only a small fraction detectable in the overall atmosphere.
"Achieving this requires precise measurements to ensure the mission delivers reliable data, enabling governments to track their progress in meeting climate targets.
"Having three satellites now secured for the mission means that it will only take 3.5 days to measure emissions around the whole globe, compared to the five days it would have taken with two satellites."
Director Earth Observation Systems at OHB, Ian Bennett, added, "We are delighted that we have been commissioned to build a third satellite for this outstanding mission, which is of tremendous importance for our planet and humanity.
"With three CO2M satellites the recurrence of the measurements is set to increase and I am very proud of our team's work and that we, alongside the European Commission and ESA, are contributing to the fight against climate change."
Benefiting from the existing consortium established for the first two satellites, OHB, as the prime contractor, will continue its collaboration with Thales Alenia Space as the sub-contractor responsible for providing the measuring instruments.
The three satellites will each carry a near-infrared and shortwave-infrared spectrometer to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide at high spatial resolution.
These measurements will be used by the new CO2M Monitoring and Verification Support Capacity, which the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is developing as part of the European Union's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.
This new tool combines satellite observations with computer modelling and promises to be a game-changer, enabling users to precisely pinpoint which emissions are a result of human activity. It will eventually reduce uncertainties in estimates of emissions of carbon dioxide from the combustion of fossil fuel at local, national and regional scales.
This will provide the EU with a unique and independent source of information to assess the effectiveness of policy measures, and to track their impact towards decarbonising Europe and meeting national emission reduction targets.
Moreover, countries around the world will be able to transparently assess and compare their progress in meeting their targets.
Vielen Dank, dass Sie den Artikel gelesen haben! Beobachten Sie uns unter Google Nachrichten.
