Analysis of Satellite Payloads for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring: Proposal of a Payload and Analysis of Its Platform Requirements

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Esmat Kishani Farahani 1
Azar Anvari 2
1 Iranian Research Organization for science and technology
2 Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology
10.22034/jssta.2025.516460.1243
Abstract
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the important strategies to combat climate change, which requires precise and continuous monitoring. Space-based monitoring, with the ability to collect comprehensive and extensive information on key climate change variables, enables the identification of climate change patterns. The aim of this article is to propose a payload for monitoring greenhouse gases and to examine and analyze the related platform requirements. In this regard, space monitoring of greenhouse gases, as one of the most important atmospheric variables related to climate change, was studied. Satellites designed for greenhouse gas monitoring and their payloads were reviewed and analyzed from various aspects such as sensing methods, mass and power budgets. Then, considering the constraints of mass, power, complexity, and construction cost, a suitable payload for monitoring carbon dioxide gas was proposed. This payload uses diffraction-based spectroscopy technology in the near-infrared and short-wave infrared bands to measure carbon dioxide concentration. Optical requirements of the payload, including spectral resolution, number of samples, and field of view to achieve spatial resolutions of 1, 10, and 30 kilometers, were calculated and presented. A simple thermal modeling to determine the optimal position of the platform radiators was performed, and thermal challenges for meeting the temperature requirements of the payload and the need for a cryogenic cooling system were described. Finally, the minimum platform requirements to support this payload were presented. The results of this research represent an effective step towards the country's space sector entering the development of satellites for monitoring climate change and capacity building in this field.
Keywords
Platform requirements
greenhouse gas monitoring
climate change
carbon dioxide
satellite payload
thermal modeling
Subjects
[1] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021.
[2] A. L. Salvia, W. Leal Filho, L. L. Brandli, and J. S. Griebeler, “Assessing research trends related to Sustainable Development Goals: Local and global issues,” J. Cleaner Prod., vol. 208, pp. 841–849, 2019.
[3] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022.
[4] S. Zhao, M. Liu, M. Tao, W. Zhou, X. Lu, Y. Xiong, F. Li, and Q. Wang, “The role of satellite remote sensing in mitigating and adapting to global climate change,” Sci. Total Environ., vol. 904, Art. no. 166820, 2023.
[5] C. J. Merchant, O. Embury, C. E. Bulgin, et al., “Satellite-based time-series of sea-surface temperature since 1981 for climate applications,” Sci. Data, vol. 6, no. 1, Art. no. 223, 2019.
[6] J. Yang, P. Gong, R. Fu, M. Zhang, J. Chen, S. Liang, B. Xu, J. Shi, and R. Dickinson, “The role of satellite remote sensing in climate change studies,” Nature Climate Change, vol. 3, no. 10, pp. 875–883, 2013.
[7] World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “Essential Climate Variables.” Accessed: Aug. 21, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://gcos.wmo.int/en/essential-climate-variables
[8] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report: Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2014.
[9] J. Heymann, M. Reuter, M. Hilker, M. Buchwitz, O. Schneising, H. Bovensmann, J. P. Burrows, et al., “Consistent satellite XCO₂ retrievals from SCIAMACHY and GOSAT using the BESD algorithm,” Atmos. Meas. Tech., vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 2961–2980, 2015.
[10] M. Zhang, X.-Y. Zhang, R.-X. Liu, and L.-Q. Hu, “A study of the validation of atmospheric CO₂ from satellite hyperspectral remote sensing,” Adv. Climate Change Res., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 131–135, 2014.
[11] C. Crevoisier, A. Chédin, H. Matsueda, T. Machida, R. Armante, and N. A. Scott, “First year of upper tropospheric integrated content of CO₂ from IASI hyperspectral infrared observations,” Atmos. Chem. Phys., vol. 9, no. 14, pp. 4797–4810, 2009.
[12] C. Serio, G. Masiello, P. Mastro, A. Cersosimo, P. Pasquariello, and S. Venafra, “Simultaneous retrieval of OCS and CO₂ from the IASI shortwave spectral band: Assessment of the accuracy of the retrieval products and validation with in situ observations,” in Proc. SPIE, Remote Sens. Clouds Atmos. XXV, vol. 11531, Art. no. 1153107, 2020.
[13] S. S. Kulawik, D. B. A. Jones, R. Nassar, F. W. Irion, J. R. Worden, K. W. Bowman, T. Machida, et al., “Characterization of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) CO₂ for carbon cycle science,” Atmos. Chem. Phys., vol. 10, no. 12, pp. 5601–5623, 2010.
[14] Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), “About Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite ‘IBUKI’ (GOSAT).” Accessed: Aug. 21, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/gosat/
[15] World Meteorological Organization (WMO), “OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2).” Accessed: Aug. 21, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/oco_2
[16] D. Crisp, H. R. Pollock, R. Rosenberg, L. Chapsky, R. A. M. Lee, et al., “The on-orbit performance of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) instrument and its radiometrically calibrated products,” Atmos. Meas. Tech., vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 59–81, 2017.
[17] A. Eldering, T. E. Taylor, C. W. O'Dell, and R. Pavlick, “The OCO-3 mission: Measurement objectives and expected performance based on one year of simulated data,” Atmos. Meas. Tech., vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 2341–2370, 2019.
[18] European Space Agency (ESA), “Copernicus Sentinel-5P.” Accessed: Aug. 21, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-5P
[19] GHGSat, “World's first commercial CO₂ sensor in orbit.” Accessed: Aug. 21, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.ghgsat.com/en/newsroom/worlds-first-commercial-co2-sensor-in-orbit/
[20] Y. Zhang, J. Liu, L. Liu, W. Wang, L. Wang, and D. Wang, “TanSat: A Chinese satellite for global carbon dioxide monitoring,” Remote Sens., vol. 9, no. 6, Art. no. 596, 2017.
[21] G. Meng, Y. Wen, M. Zhang, Y. Gu, W. Xiong, Z. Wang, and S. Niu, “The status and development proposal of carbon sources and sinks monitoring satellite system,” Carbon Neutrality, vol. 1, no. 1, Art. no. 32, 2022.
[22] Y. Zhao, Y. Liu, and X. Zhang, “Gaofen-5: A new satellite for environmental monitoring and analysis,” Remote Sens., vol. 11, no. 6, Art. no. 674, 2019.
[23] X. Liu, S. Zhang, and Y. Hu, “Monitoring of atmospheric greenhouse gases using Gaofen-5 satellite,” Environ. Sci. Technol., vol. 54, no. 5, pp. 2751–2760, 2020.
[24] Y. Wang, J. Zhang, and X. Liu, “The launch of China's DQ-1 satellite for atmospheric monitoring,” Remote Sens., vol. 14, no. 5, Art. no. 1040, 2022.
[25] L. Zhang, C. Zhao, and H. Li, “DQ-2: The next-generation atmospheric monitoring satellite,” Environ. Monit. Assess., vol. 195, no. 2, Art. no. 82, 2023.
[26] O. Bock, J. Bremer, and D. Zeng, “The MERLIN mission: A lidar-based approach for methane monitoring,” Remote Sens. Environ., vol. 266, Art. no. 112689, 2022.
[27] K. Gerilowski, et al., “The Methane Remote Sensing Lidar Mission (MERLIN): An intergovernmental approach to global climate monitoring,” Atmos. Meas. Tech., vol. 13, no. 7, pp. 4131–4144, 2020.
[28] N. Strasser, C. Wührer, C. Kühl, M. Haiml, D. Viehmann, and M. Kritzler, “MERLIN (MEthane Remote sensing LIdar missioN): Heading towards PFM and observation of interesting effects,” in Proc. Int. Conf. Space Optics (ICSO 2022), SPIE, vol. 12777, Art. no. 127770X, 2023.
[29] L. S. Rothman, I. E. Gordon, Y. Babikov, A. Barbe, D. C. Benner, P. F. Bernath, M. Birk, et al., “The HITRAN2012 molecular spectroscopic database,” J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, vol. 130, pp. 4–50, 2013.
[30] T. Röckmann, et al., “Active and passive remote sensing of greenhouse gases,” Remote Sens. Environ., vol. 178, pp. 180–193, 2016.
[31] D. W. T. Griffith and J. Notholt, “Active remote sensing of greenhouse gases using laser technology,” Atmos. Meas. Tech., vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 1901–1913, 2016.
[32] R. Haring, R. Pollock, B. Sutin, and D. Crisp, “Current development status of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory instrument optical design,” in Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing XIII, Proc. SPIE, vol. 5883, pp. 61–70, 2005.
[33] J. G. Rivera, J. I. Rodriguez, and D. L. Johnson, “Development of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory instrument thermal control system,” SAE Int. J. Aerosp., vol. 1, pp. 268–279, 2008.
[34] A. Hashemi, S. Shakhesi, M. Haghgoo, T. Abdollahi, H. Bazrafshan, M. Abedi, et al., “Exploring the multifaceted landscape of space industry applications: Thematic analysis of strategic policy plans of developed and developing countries,” Space Sci. Technol. Appl., no. e216288, 2025, doi: 10.22034/jssta.2024.461961.1172. (in Persian).
[35] O. Shekoofa, M. Khoshsima, S. Ghazanfarinia, and F. Bagheroskouei, “Toward the establishment of a national center for space weather services: Vision, mission and organization,” Space Sci. Technol. Appl., vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 34–48, 2022, doi: 10.22034/jssta.2022.309735.1034. (in Persian).
 
 
 
Space Science, Technology and Applications
Volume 5, Issue 2
March 2026
Pages 156-168

  • Receive Date 17 April 2025
  • Revise Date 10 August 2025
  • Accept Date 13 October 2025