Google has partnered with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an American NGO focused on the environment. It's in the name. The pair devised MethaneSAT, a satellite and artificial intelligence system that can detect farts from space.
Well, technically it can also detect burps, but that's not the purpose of the product. You can eat Taco Bell, onions, pork sausage, and anything else that gives off gas. Yes, your poop-powered tractor is probably safe too (for now). Google and EDF are focusing on big game.
google gas gear
Specifically, the MethaneSAT project goes after methane polluters: industries that emit large amounts of the gas as a byproduct of their operations. Although there is no design for bodily functions that we know of, we are reasonably certain that certain regions of the Earth will exhibit greater methane signatures than expected.
MethaneSAT will use the upcoming satellite, designed to launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket in March, to scan areas of the planet for signs of smelly gases. Google helps with algorithms and artificial intelligence analysis to create heatmaps like the one pictured above (taken from Google Earth Engine). Yellow areas indicate areas with high methane emissions, which could range from polluting factories to Uncle Jerry after eating a particularly bad curry (he really wants to stop eating that kind of thing) should).
However, it is unlikely that MethaneSAT will spend much time replacing Jerry. It orbits the Earth at an altitude of approximately 560 kilometers and monitors major oil and gas producing regions. If you love tacos, you can breathe a sigh of relief (not that deep, right?). The data collected by the project will be published on his EDF website set up for this task and on Google Earth Engine. What you do with this deeper insight into the presence of methane on Earth…it's up to you. And probably the Greenpeace extremists as well.
