Experts developing a novel satellite to detect, measure and monitor the sources of carbon dioxide emissions as part of the fight against global warming met up at Space Park Leicester to drive forward the exciting international project.
Representatives of the Bahrain National Space Agency (NSSA) visited the University of Leicester’s £100 million science and innovation hub last week to discuss their collaboration on the CO2Sat Project.
The CO2Sat concept is being developed by a team from the UK and Bahrain, including representatives from Space Park Leicester, the University of Leicester, NSSA and Geospatial Insight.
Dr Josh Vande Hey, of Space Park Leicester, who is also the University of Leicester’s Head of Earth Observation Group, said: “Manmade emissions are driving global climate change and CO2 accounts for around 76 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The detection, measurement and monitoring of CO2 emissions, at their source point, is a critical requirement if organisations are to understand their emissions profiles and develop strategies to reduce them.
“CO2Sat is planned as a constellation of satellites to deliver this capability – providing consistent, frequent and accurate measurement of industrial CO2 emissions from space at a global scale.
“We were delighted to welcome NSSA representatives to progress the project and share our expertise and knowledge with one another.”
During the visit Space Park Leicester hosted several working sessions on metrology, scenario modelling, ground sensing, optics design and drones.
NSSA Engineering Specialist Yaqoob Alqassab gave an overview of NSSA, including an introduction to the agency, its strategic plan, objectives and achievements while Roaya Bubshait, Head of Geospatial Analytics, delivered a presentation on NSSA activities related to analysing space images and data.
The team from Leicester is leading the project’s spectrometer instrument design, build and lab test, as well as the development of the data retrieval pipeline.
NSSA is leading the specification, implementation plan and testing of the satellite’s Hyperspectral Imager as well as collaborating on the mission design.
Geospatial Insight is taking the lead on market research, scenario modelling and operational planning.
The UK Space Agency awarded the team £1.4 million to demonstrate proof of concept of the instrument and mission for the first part of the project which is due to be completed by March 2025.
The team hopes to secure further funding to support the next stages of the project, including its build, launch and operation.
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