China launches new satellite to monitor methane emissions

A Lijian-1 Y5 commercial carrier rocket with 15 satellites onboard blasts off from a commercial aerospace innovation pilot zone in northwest China, Nov. 11, 2024. (Photo by Wang Jiangbo/Xinhua)

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

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

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

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

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has a strong impact on global warming.

The satellite will achieve high-frequency, high-precision observations of methane leaks from point sources globally -- providing both data and technical support for the construction of a comprehensive methane emission supervision system.

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

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

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

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