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Science & Tech.
Mahesh

24/08/24 13:38 PM IST

Tanager-1 satellite

In News
  • Recently,a satellite developed by a coalition of companies and organisations, including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Tanager-1 satellite
  • The satellite will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at Jet Propulsion Laboratory to track methane and carbon dioxide emissions.
  • It will do so by measuring hundreds of wavelengths of light that are reflected by Earth’s surface.
  • Different compounds in the planet’s atmosphere — including methane and carbon dioxide — absorb different wavelengths of light, leaving spectral “fingerprints” that the imaging spectrometer can identify.
  • These infrared fingerprints can enable researchers to pinpoint and quantify strong greenhouse gas emissions, potentially accelerating mitigation efforts.
  • Tanager-1 will be able to measure point-source emission, down to the level of individual facilities and equipment, on a global scale.
  • It will scan 130,000 square kilometres of Earth’s surface per day. “[S]cientists will analyse data from Tanager-1 to identify gas plumes with the unique spectral signatures of methane and carbon dioxide — and pinpoint their sources. Plume data will be publicly available online.
  • Therefore, it is crucial to cut methane emissions.
  • The main culprit is fossil fuel operations, which account for about 40 per cent of all human-caused methane emissions.
Source- Indian Express

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