MethaneSAT Loses Power and Control: $88 Million Effort to Better Quantify Methane Emissions is Likely Lost

     Funded in part by Jeff Bezos and Google, the $88 million MethaneSAT satellite just lost communications and control. According to partner Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the satellite lost power and control on June 20, 2025, and has been deemed unrecoverable. This could be a big loss for guaranteeing transparency and accountability for oil & gas operators and other methane-emitting industries. I just wrote a post last month about satellite methane monitoring that highlighted the 2024 deployment of MethaneSAT. Over the past year or so, MethaneSAT has been providing important data for quantifying methane emissions from individual sites and facilities. This data can be used to confront oil & gas companies about their emissions. While there are other satellites detecting methane emissions, this will be I big loss for the effort as a whole. MethaneSAT, however, has the onboard advanced spectrometers and the interpretive algorithms to pinpoint emissions to very localized individual sources, offering more accuracy about exactly where emissions are originating. It is the only satellite that can zoom in to the facility level. EDF notes that they are continuing to work with the data that they collected over the past year or so and are integrating it into emissions characterizations from individual sites over the coming months.

“After pursuing all options to restore communications, we learned this morning that the satellite has lost power, and that it is likely not recoverable," EDF said in a statement on Tuesday (July 1).

     The loss of the satellite will be a blow to holding individual companies accountable for under-reported methane emissions, unfortunately. Now, we are back to zoomed-out methane emissions attributions and quantification. Perhaps, there may be some possibility of recovery as the satellite has been deemed “likely not recoverable.”

     According to EDF:

"The advanced spectrometers developed specifically for MethaneSAT met or exceeded all expectations throughout the mission," and called the mission "a remarkable success in terms of scientific and technological accomplishment," if perhaps not longevity.

 

 

References:

 

MethaneSAT Loses Contact with Satellite: Core Mission to Turn Methane Measurement Data into Action Will Continue. Environmental Defense Fund. Facebook Post. June 2025. Facebook

Climate satellite MethaneSAT backed by Bezos and Google fails in space after just 1 year. Josh Dinner. Space. July 2, 2025. Climate satellite MethaneSAT backed by Bezos and Google fails in space after just 1 year

MethaneSAT 'likely not recoverable' after losing contact with Earth. Richard Speed. The Register. July 2, 2025. MethaneSAT 'likely not recoverable' after losing contact with Earth