A Dutch satellite will measure emissions of both CO2 and methane from space. Construction of the satellite started this month. TANGO is being developed by a Dutch consortium consisting of ISISPACE, TNO, SRON and KNMI.
TANGO is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission. It builds on the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) satellite mission, a joint project of the Dutch space research institute SRON, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands. TROPOMI is an instrument aboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, which was launched in October 2017.
However, TANGO goes a step further than TROPOMI by mapping sources responsible for some 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is important because it allows the figures that countries themselves report on their greenhouse gas emissions to be verified.
Two agile satellites
TANGO consists of two manoeuvrable satellites weighing 25 kg each, jointly orbiting the earth. One of the satellites measures CO2 and methane emissions, while the other maps nitrogen dioxide. This allows TANGO to measure emissions from 150 to 300 large, industrial facilities and power plants every four days. This provides images of emission plumes with a resolution of 300 x 300 metres. The parties involved talk about a huge improvement is compared to previous missions.
The TANGO mission deploys two Spectrolite instruments, developed by TNO. These instruments are compact and offer high spatial resolution for accurately measuring emissions. At the same time, they are light enough for mounting on a standardised nanosatellite platform of less than 20 kg. In comparison, traditional satellite systems often weigh hundreds of kilograms.
The Spectrolite instruments measure CO2 emissions with a threshold of ≥ 5 Mt/year and a target of ≥ 2.5 Mt/year. This represents 44% and 66% of global annual emissions from power generation, respectively. In addition, they measure methane (CH4) emissions with a threshold of ≥ 10 kt/year and a target of ≥ 5 kt/year. This corresponds to 68% and 75% of global annual emissions from industrial sectors such as oil & gas, coal mining and waste treatment, respectively. Finally, the instruments measure nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, which helps detect CO2 plumes, determine historical CO2 trends and distinguish the CO2 contribution in mixed CH4-CO2 sources.
Developed by Dutch consortium
TANGO is an ESA mission developed by a Dutch consortium. ISISPACE leads the implementation and is responsible for the satellites, launch and operations of the two satellites. TNO develops and builds the instruments providing measurements of CO2, methane and NO2 and is working on an emission atlas for greenhouse gas emissions. SRON and KNMI are the scientific leaders of the project and are developing the algorithms to derive the gas concentrations. SRON is developing detector electronics and the ground segment for operational data processing.
Opportunities for the Netherlands
The contract for TANGO between ESA and prime contractor ISISPACE was signed on 26 June in Vienna during the ESA Living Planet Symposium. The parties involved speak of an important step in the fight against climate change and contribution to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Opportunities for the Netherlands
The parties also point to opportunities that the development offers for the Netherlands. For example, the Netherlands has had a strong international position in earth observation and satellite missions for over 40 years. The development of TANGO strengthens this position.
Image: LoganArt via Pixabay
