RTX Provides Blue Canyon Satellite to Help Solve a Crucial Climate Challenge

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Blue Canyon Technologies, RTX's small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider, announced the successful launch and initial contact with the MethaneSAT satellite. MethaneSAT is the first satellite funded by a nonprofit organization to accelerate more effective efforts to reduce emissions of methane, a greenhouse pollutant responsible for about 30 percent of today's global warming.

Blue Canyon provided its Saturn-class bus, integrated with infrared spectrometers, that will be used to detect the colorless and odorless gas methane. This is the fifth Blue Canyon Saturn-class platform to launch and operate on-orbit successfully. Blue Canyon's platform offers robust power systems, secure data handling and industry-leading guidance and navigation with a 200-kg payload capacity.

"Blue Canyon Technologies' proven technical solutions will support this critical mission for the future of our planet and the continued exploration of Earth sciences," said Chris Winslett, general manager for Blue Canyon Technologies.

MethaneSAT LLC, the organization behind the satellite, is a subsidiary of the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund.  The donor-funded mission will provide global, high-resolution detection and quantification of methane emissions.

"MethaneSAT is a unique and demanding mission that will provide essential data we believe no other satellite can provide," said Dr. Steven Hamburg, MethaneSAT Executive Manager and Project Lead. "Blue Canyon Technologies was selected as a best-in-class bus provider and has been a critical partner in bringing this project to fruition."

Research says that cutting methane emissions from fossil fuel operations, agriculture and other sectors as quickly as possible using existing solutions could slow the rate of warming by as much as 30 percent, which is critically important while working to decarbonize the energy system. Data from MethaneSAT, the most advanced methane tracking satellite in space, will help policymakers and industry find and fix the problem faster and more effectively.