A combined British-French satellite designed to track atmospheric carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas responsible for climate change, has landed in the United Kingdom, where assembly and testing will be completed.
The UK Space Agency and the French space agency, CNES, are collaborating on a mission called MicroCarb that will be the first European satellite specifically designed to measure atmospheric CO2 from all over the world, the primary greenhouse gas brought on by human activity.
The satellite is expected to make a valuable contribution to monitoring how well greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington conducted pre-flight calibration and validation on the instrument, which is scheduled to be launched in 2024. The instrument was built by Airbus France, and Thales Alenia Space will complete the satellite assembly, integration, and testing at the Science and Technology Facility Council’s RAL Space test facilities on the Harwell Space Cluster, in Oxfordshire.
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Speaking on the mission, the Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, Dr Paul Bate said the information from MicroCarb will be extremely significant because more than half of the crucial measurements of climate change rely on satellite data.
According to him, having more accurate knowledge of how much carbon the world’s forests and oceans absorb will provide the reliable information needed to take decisions on tackling climate change.
“It is an exciting moment to see the MicroCarb satellite arrive in the UK. This mission shows what can be achieved when we collaborate with international partners like CNES, bringing the best of our skills and expertise together,” he added.
Also speaking, the Director of STFC RAL Space, Dr Sarah Beardsley, said: “Achieving Net Zero is one of the most pressing challenges we currently face, and a vital part in reaching our collective goal is to develop systems that can accurately and reliably monitor carbon emissions.
“I’m incredibly proud that STFC RAL Space has played such an important role in the development of MicroCarb. The pointing and calibration system that we’ve developed for this mission will enable scientists to analyse the carbon cycle in new levels of fine detail, giving us a fuller and clearer understanding of the processes driving climate change.”
According to others who commented on the development, MicroCarb’s data will contribute to global efforts to measure how much carbon is being emitted by natural processes and how much by human activities.
This information, according to them, will help inform decisions on tackling climate change.
Story was adapted from GOV.UK.
