The Chinese mainland made a significant stride in climate monitoring on Monday, launching the Lijian-1 Y5 commercial carrier rocket from a commercial aerospace innovation pilot zone in northwest China at 12:03 p.m.
Aboard the rocket were 15 satellites, including the Xiguang-1 04 satellite—China's first high-resolution methane monitoring commercial satellite.
Developed by Xiopm SPACE, a commercial space company established by the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Xiguang-1 04 is equipped with a methane camera, a chlorophyll camera, and a multi-spectral camera.
This advanced satellite is designed to monitor methane emissions, track trends, identify carbon sources, and assess carbon neutrality capabilities. Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, plays a significant role in global warming, making accurate monitoring crucial.
The satellite will provide high-frequency, high-precision observations of methane leaks from point sources worldwide, offering invaluable data and technical support for a comprehensive methane emission supervision system.
\"The successful launch of the Xiguang-1 04 satellite marks an important breakthrough in high-resolution methane monitoring,\" said Qin Jing, chairperson and general manager of Xiopm SPACE. \"It demonstrates our strength in space technology and our determination to tackle global climate change.\"
The same batch included the Xiguang-1 05 satellite, featuring a hyper-spectral camera and a panchromatic camera, widely used for agricultural monitoring, mineral exploration, and environmental surveillance.
Xiopm SPACE is also developing a new generation of high-resolution methane and carbon monitoring satellites to meet both domestic and international market demands, with the Xiguang-1 series representing a key element of these efforts.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
