Objectives of the Product

The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is urgently needed to curb global warming. Satellite-based Earth Observation offers objective, independent, and global measurements of emissions, detailing their magnitude, source, and type. Methane emission reduction is particularly crucial due to its significant impact on global warming and its short-lived nature compared to other greenhouse gases, presenting strong potential for effective monitoring.

The rise in satellite missions has produced a wealth of data, some publicly available and used in scientific projects. However, the practical application of this data for emission reduction remains limited. Challenges include the inaccessibility of data for end-users lacking necessary technical knowledge, the need for derived information rather than raw satellite data, and the necessity of models and expertise to interpret emission data from raw satellite inputs. While scientific expertise exists, it is not readily accessible to all stakeholders. Furthermore, some companies use proprietary methods to interpret public data sources without sharing their methodologies, complicating result comparisons. With impending methane emission regulations in the EU and US, there is a significant commercial opportunity for information services based on satellite measurements. The BrightSkies methane emission service aims to provide accessible, reliable data to address these needs for industry and governmental customers.

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Customers and their Needs

Our key customer segments are Oil & Gas operators and the regulatory market.

We chose to start with larger players in the Oil & Gas Industry for several reasons. The industry has consolidated over the years, with a few companies now covering a significant portion of global production. This also centralises pollution, increasing the likelihood of large emissions that our monitoring tools can measure. Additionally, the industry is aware of its pollution levels and actively works to reduce emissions. Major companies and organisations like the OGCI have set ambitious methane emission reduction targets and expressed interest in our service to help achieve these goals.

Regulatory bodies, inspection services, and policymakers are also interested in our service. The inspection of polluting companies in respect to local laws and the effect that this pollution has on the general health of nearby residents is a high priority for them. Organisations focused on nature pollution and public health have shown interest in using our insights and are willing to assist in developing a service valuable to their work.

Both market segments have expressed interest in our project, and we will conduct demonstrations to showcase the added value of our solution.

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Targeted customer/users countries

Target customers can be found worldwide. We will start with a focus on customers with a European presence, as it is easier for us to approach those. Once our technology has been demonstrated and validated, we will expand globally, with the organisations active in other important areas such as the Persian Gulf, or the Permian Basin.

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Product description

The BrightSkies Methane portal consists of a data processing pipeline that is able to detect, quantify and pinpoint the source of methane emissions worldwide. This pipeline consists of multiple processing steps and is implemented on a cloud-based data processing framework. The user can interact with the system via several means, such as directly through an API, but also through a web-based portal where requests can be made and the results are displayed.

End-users and/or customers can interact directly with the web portal by means of the subscription service, and based on the web-portal results, also in-depth case studies can be performed to provide additional added value to customers.
The figure shows the BrightSkies methane portal overall architecture and their key modules and major interfaces. The system consists of three modules that contain data processing functions (modules 1-3), a data processing infrastructure (module 4) and a data portal with a user interface to end-users (module 5).
Each module will be based on either the latest scientific insights and/or inhouse developed technologies. This ensures optimal performance on the one hand, while also reducing the development risks.

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Added Value

BrightSkies will stand out compared to other data providers in several key areas:

1. Robustness: BrightSkies will use best practices from the science community, documented thoroughly. Instead of providing “off the shelf” data, we will enhance existing methane concentration data with post-processing techniques like de-striping and artifact removal. Advanced tools for hotspot detection and emission source quantification will be developed based on state-of-the-art methods. This ensures the most accurate insights from open data sources.
2. Validated and Open Data Policy: We aim to provide the best information transparently. Part of our data will be open to the community for auditing, with all scientific literature used openly referenced. We will compare BrightSkies’ results with independent methods, and these comparisons will be published openly. This approach fosters trust and broad uptake.
3. Easy Access: Our insights portal is web-based and user-friendly. User-specific reports can be requested periodically.
4. Competitive Pricing: Without a first-mover advantage, we will compete on price and validation of our open data policy. The service will have standard and advanced versions, priced competitively. This strategy aims to attract clients with minimal investment

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Current Status

The Project has had a successful kick off with ESA on 25 June 2024, and an internal KO on 12 July, where the project responsibilities and tasks have been laid out and described to all the involved personnel. The team has started working on the tasks required for the first milestone, the Requirements Review. As such, the requirement analysis and system design are now underway, and their respective deliverables are being drafted. In addition, the technical work on data pre-processing and plume simulations has started.