ABB Inc.|ABB Inc.

Purpose

Monitoring global greenhouse gas emissions from space is an important part of the global efforts to curb emissions. Improving the spatial resolution of satellite-based GHG mapping will provide decision makers with more compelling data linked to single emitters. This project will merge existing commercial Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) technology with innovative optics to dramatically increase the number of measurement point at every orbit while preserving industry leading sensitivity and accuracy. The ideas proposed herein were successfully tested on ground instrument but have yet to find functional implementation in the context of space use. This work targets the development of a sensor for GHGs (or other gases) mapping from orbit that could provide at least one order of magnitude improvement in the number of spatial elements observed at every orbit.