Carbon Mapper

Carbon Mapper is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2021 to detect and quantify methane and CO2 point-source emissions at facility scale from space. ^[1] The organisation operates as a public-private coalition with partners including NASA JPL, Planet Labs, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the California Air Resources Board, and RMI; funders include High Tide Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Grantham Foundation. ^[2]

Tanager-1, the coalition's first hyperspectral satellite, launched in August 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, built and operated by Planet Labs. ^[3] The satellite carries a VSWIR imaging spectrometer covering 400 to 2500 nm at approximately 30 m spatial resolution across a 19 km swath, with instrument design heritage from NASA's EMIT instrument on the International Space Station. Methane and CO2 detection data is released publicly within 30 days of detection for noncommercial use. ^[4]