California will build its own satellite to fight climate change – Quartz

The man formerly known as Governor Moonbeam announced California's plan to build its first satellite.

Outgoing Governor Jerry Brown announced today his intention to develop and launch a satellite to monitor climate pollutants in his country. The satellite start-up San Francisco will build it.

Brown, who served twice as governor of the state from 1975 to 1983, also proposed investments in satellites and space technology.

After taking over the office in 2010, Brown warned in 2016 that if the new President Donald Trump sought to reduce the budget for satellites collecting meteorological data essential to understanding climatology, California would launch its own space computers. Trump has called several times at the end of the DSCOVR, a climatology monitor whose first vice president, Al Gore, was originally.

DIY satellites

"With science still under attack – we are attacked by many people, including Donald Trump – and with the growing climate threat, we will launch a satellite – our own satellite to know where pollution is and how we will end it." said Brown at the conclusion of the World Summit on Climate Action today.

The California satellite will be used by the state's Air Resources Board to supplement existing climate observatories. It is intended to precisely locate the "point source" of the pollutants it observes as and when they are emitted, which probably allows them to control themselves more effectively. The biggest obstacle to achieving California's climate goals, however, is gas-powered cars and trucks on its roads.

The data collected by the satellite will be shared with the public through a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund. The satellite design will be funded by the Overlook International Foundation and the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust. But no cost has been shared and no launch date has been planned.

However, as the state works with Planet, it is possible that the project costs hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than tens of millions or more than traditional Earth observation satellites cost.

Partnership with Planet

Planet was founded in 2010 by Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler and Chris Boshuizen, who worked together at NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. (Boshuizen is now an entrepreneur-in-residence at DCVC, a venture capital fund invested in Planet.) The company was designed to harness the potential of a new generation of low-cost satellites to replicate and exceed project capacity. expensive traditional space.

Now, after raising close to $ 200 million from venture capitalists, including DCVC and Google, the company operates 150 satellites, the largest private fleet in the world, representing more than 10% of active satellites in orbit. Every day, she collects images of the entire landmass, an incredible amount of data that Planet sells to its customers, including journalists and hedge funds, agribusinesses and governments.

Manufacturing vice-president Chester Gilmore described how a small group of technicians, using only ten tools, could build and test 40 satellites in one week on her new line, exceeding the previous record of 26. He recalled debut of society, by downloading a "blur" – a blurred image of the earth – a victory over "near" – no image of the earth at all.

After a recent round of layoffs, some industry watchers feared the company would face headwinds. "The New Space company at large sees a lot of turbulence for imaging and communication projects," warned Tim Farrar, a satellite communications consultant.

New ways to make money in space

Norwegian Climate Minister Ola Elvestuen attended the opening of the Planet plant, congratulating the company for the development of "green and environmental" technologies. But Planet is not a space agency and results.

Planet co-founders remain optimistic about the future of the company. A spokesman for the company told Quartz that it had raised more than $ 100 million in new capital in May 2018 from a mix of new and old investors. They hope the new machine-learning products in Planet's online platform will make their data much more useful for customers and launch the 14th edition of its Dove imaging satellite later this year, with sensors greatly enhanced. improved.

"As a mission-driven commercial company, one of Planet's greatest impacts is turning technology and data advances into tools that benefit the planet while encouraging business growth," Schingler said in a statement. communicated.

But they still need to find regular customers for all this information. Unique agreements such as the one announced today, with a subnational government and private donors contracting the purchase of a satellite, could be part of the solution.

This story has been updated with additional information about Planet's fundraising and to name the company's third co-founder.