Google has teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an American NGO dedicated to… well, the environment. It’s right there in the name. The pair have come up with MethaneSAT, a system of satellites and artificial intelligence that can detect farts from space.
Okay, fine, it can technically detect burps as well, but it’s not the product’s aim. You can still have Taco Bell, onions, pork sausages, or whatever else it is that makes you pass gas. Yes, your poo-powered tractor is probably also safe (for now). Google and the EDF have their eyes on large game.
Google’s gas geas
Specifically, the MethaneSAT project is going after methane polluters, industries that emit large quantities of the gas as a byproduct of their operations. It has no designs on bodily functions that we know of but we’re reasonably sure that certain areas of the planet will demonstrate a larger-than-expected methane signature.
MethaneSAT will use a to-be-launched satellite, designed for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in March, to scan areas of the planets looking for signs of the smelly gas. Google will assist with algorithms and artificial intelligence analysis to create a heatmap like the one pictured above (taken from Google Earth Engine). The yellow areas show high methane emission areas, which could be anything from polluting factories to your uncle Jerry after a particularly nasty curry (he really should stop eating that stuff).
MethaneSAT isn’t likely to be spending much time over Jerry’s place, however. It’ll orbit the planet at a height of about 560 kilometres, keeping an eye on the major oil and gas production areas. Folks with a fondness for tacos can breathe a sigh of relief (just not too deeply, yeah?). The data the project gathers will be made publicly available, on the EDF’s website set up for the task and on Google Earth Engine. Just what you do with this deeper insight into the presence of methane on Earth… that’s up to you. And maybe Greenpeace’s militant wing.