Artistic rendering of 2 GHGSats. Photo: GHGSat

GHGSat revealed Tuesday that ABB will deliver the payloads for GHGSat’s next three methane detecting satellites. This is part of GHGSat’s plan to have a constellation of 10 spacecraft in orbit by the end of 2022. The company has been ramping up funding, as GHGSat secured $30 million in Series B funding last month.

GHGSat is operating satellites able to detect greenhouse gases (GHG) in high-resolution, a technology the company has demonstrated in space since 2016. While government GHG sensors in orbit provide regional scale measurements and global trends, GHGSat’s satellites are specifically designed to detect and quantify methane emissions from individual facilities.

This capability will be further enhanced as GHGSat’s fleet expands in the coming years. “Iris” (GHGSat-C1), the company’s second satellite, launched on Sept. 2, joining technology demonstrator “Claire,” which has been in orbit since 2016. ABB delivered the payload for “Hugo” (GHGSat-C2), GHGSat’s third satellite, which is scheduled to launch by the end of the year.

Commenting on the agreement, GHGSat CEO Stephane Germain said: “With GHGSat-C2, ABB has proven that they have the technical expertise and manufacturing capacity to support GHGSat’s growth. We are looking forward to this next phase of our partnership with ABB to rapidly expand our constellation.”