MethaneSAT: A cutting-edge methane mapping spacecraft

Introduction

MethaneSat is a space-based, passive spectrometer tuned to O2 and CH4 bands in the near infrared. Its goal is simple and enormous: map methane basins and infrastructure in unprecedented detail and give the data away for free. Funded by the Environmental Defense Fund, TEDx, and donors from around the world, it represents the cutting edge in both technology and crowd sourcing.

You can head to their website here: MethaneSat Website

And you can watch a TEDx talk announcing the system here:

Work Overview

I was the Mission Architect and Chief Engineer through proposal, downselect phases, and contract award. My job was to take their idea and convert it into a real system. I reported to a Capture Manager, who mentored me and gave me free reign to get the job done. This means I was responsible for every part of the process from requirement definition to contracts.

Supporting me were dozens of engineers from every discipline. Together, we defined and executed trade studies on systems, operations, budgets, and even novel commercial “risk sharing” contract concepts. I led by example with new Python and Matlab code that traded orbit, optical, thermal, and detector options to find an optimal solution.

A big part of the work was serving as the customer interface. Many of the customer’s technical staff were methane experts with limited understanding of the demands of the space environment. Their confusion and even dismay at the complexities meant that I needed to start the conversation at a lower level. I used my deep experience with methane observations to speak their language. I went to their conferences and presented posters. I shared options and study results as we built a relationship of trust on each technical point. In the end, I was singled out by this demanding customer for praise and recognition due largely to my communication efforts.

However, the largest challenge was how to build an instrument that NASA models estimated at over $100 million for less than $50 million. MethaneSat is truly cutting-edge with no NASA projects on the books that come close to the spectrometer’s wavelength and spatial resolution. My approach here was to start with the vendors. Our strongest asset was the crowd-sourced “change the world” mission and we worked this to maximum advantage to win concessions and risk sharing promises. This strategy extended to internal efforts as well.

Ball Aerospace, like all large aerospace corporations, has long lists of processes and can demand various levels of technical scrutiny. The most important government missions demand the highest level of rigor, while research projects are mostly free to do what needs to be done. To make MethaneSat work at the available funding, we had to thread the needle on processes. I read every process and manual as we built a custom portfolio of rigor sufficient to minimize risk while maximizing production speed. I spent many hours leading meetings. I started with mail room clerks and then worked up through the company to the CEO.

One of the technical challenges of the system is the vast amount of data it collects. It can collect gigabytes of data every day and they want every bit of it. This led to significant effort to integrate the latest in X-band radios and involved working with non-traditional downlinking locations. We kept traditional locations (like Svalbard) in our back pocket even as we built the case for using dozens of new stations instead of one big station. In the end, we found a combination of solutions to close the gap.

Publications

Unfortunately, I have no publications I can share on this topic. This system is exceptionally innovative and the intellectual property rights are not conducive to publication.

Dr. Wofsy, the Principal Investigator from Harvard, has given a few presentations. If you have an AGU membership, my recommendation is to search his name and MethaneSat.

Final Thoughts

MethaneSat is one of the pinnacles of my career. The mission is just so damn cool. Working nights and weekends to optimize performance, schedule, and budget didn’t feel like work at all. That was true for the team I led too. Every person on my team was having a blast and I received several requests a week from engineers across the company who wanted to join us.

Like every adventure, if it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done then I’ve stopped trying. Still, I know when it launches that I’ll be one of its biggest supporters.