NanoCarb-21 : a compact imaging-spectrometer to monitor the greenhouse gas emissions on Earth with a constellation of 21 nanosatellites

Séminaire IPAG de Silvère Gousset (IPAG), jeudi 15 décembre 2016 à 11h00, salle Manuel Forestini IPAG

The NanoCarb instrument concept is a joint innovation from both Grenoble University and ONERA. Based on a compact Fourier Transform spectrometer, the instrument design is easily adaptable for a large field of on-board applications, from flying hyperspectral sensor on drone to miniaturized nanosatellite mission. The presented study demonstrates the spectrometer’s capacity to measure the CO2 and CH4 concentrations on Earth from a nanosatellite with respective sensitivities of 1ppm and 32ppb within classical observation conditions. Twenty-one of these satellites each weighing less than 20kg could complete the reference CNES mission MicroCarb, providing for the first time the ability to ensure a daily mapping of the main greenhouse gases. These highly spatially and temporally resolved data are crucial for understanding the transport mechanisms of carbon between geophysical stocks and atmosphere, and thus to assess the impact of human activities.