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摘要

If all goes as planned, a satellite weighing just more than 770 pounds will be launched into space and orbit the Earth once every 90 minutes, assessing what lies beneath. Its mission: detect methane emissions, mainly from oil and gas sites across the world, from about 500 kilometers above the earth. The satellite is the centerpiece of an $88 million donor-funded effort led by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a New York-headquartered nonprofit environmental advocacy group. MethaneSAT, an affiliate of EDF, said the satellite will pinpoint methane-emitting sites and the magnitude of such emissions using a wide, 200-kilometer view path. Hopes are that it will be able to measure emissions from about 80% of the world's major global oil and gas facilities about every four days.