Bezos-backed methane-tracking satellite lost in space

A satellite supported by the founder of the Amazon billionaire, Jeff Bezos, was lost in space while performing a major climate change mission, New Zealand officials announced on Wednesday.

Designed to measure greenhouse gas emissions with an “unprecedented resolution”, the Methanesat space probe was also funded by Wellington and the environmental defense fund in the United States.

In the grip of technical problems, the satellite has recently ceased to respond to its controllers related to the earth.

“Obviously, this is disappointing development,” said Andrew Johnson, a senior official of the New Zealand space agency.

“As those working in the space sector know, space is intrinsically difficult, and each attempt – useless or not – pushes the limits of what we know and what we are capable of.”

The environmental defense fund, which led the project, said it was “a new difficult” but would not be the end of its methane follow -up efforts.

Methanesat was designed to measure the emissions of the powerful greenhouse gases, which feeds climate change by trapping heat in the planet’s atmosphere.

It turned out to be notoriously difficult to obtain precise estimates of methane emissions drawn up by oil and gas projects around the world.

“It was one of the most advanced methane monitoring satellites in space, measuring methane emissions in the oil and gas producing regions around the world,” said the Méthanesat team.

‘Outstanding’

Project manager Steven Hamburg said the initial data gleaned by the satellite was “remarkable”.

“Recent measures in the Texas Permian and New Mexico basin have revealed that the emissions three to five times higher than the American environmental protection agency, while the emissions observed in the Caspian South region are more than 10 times higher than those reported,” wrote Hamburg on LinkedIn.

Methanesat was launched in the space in March 2024 at the rear of a SpaceX rocket from California.

The controllers first lost contact with the satellite on June 20, the Methanesat team said in a press release.

‘Not recoverable’

They confirmed that he had lost all power Monday this week and was “probably not recoverable”.

“The engineering team conducts an in -depth investigation into loss of communication,” said Methanesat.

“It should take time. We will share what we learn.”

Despite its shorter lifespan than expected, Methanesat praised the mission as a “remarkable success in terms of scientific and technological achievement”.

The founder of Amazon, Bezos, injected more than $ 100 million US dollars into the project through his land philanthropic fund.

The satellite finally succumbed after overcoming a series of technical problems.

He has repeatedly entered a sleep, or monitoring mode, without encouraging – engineers to make a long reset each time.

One of its three propellants has also failed.

© 2025 AFP