French space agency CNES has awarded a contract to Airbus Defence and Space to design and build the optical instrument for MicroCarb, a microsatellite that will map global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels.
Expected to launch in 2020, the microsatellite will study the sources of CO2 and its absorbents to understand how this greenhouse gas is affecting climate change.
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Airbus Defence and Space will lead the manufacture of MicroCarb at its site in Toulouse, France, with a large contribution from French micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Once launched, MicroCarb will be the first European mission dedicated to measuring CO2 levels using a spectrometer scanning at noticeable and near-infrared wavelengths.
The spectrometer is claimed to be equipped to measure CO2 levels accurately to within one part in a million.
The proposed MicroCarb mission is designed to complement CNES’s methane remote-sensing LIDAR mission (MERLIN) satellite, which records methane levels using its light detection and ranging (LIDAR) instrument.
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By GlobalDataAirbus Defence and Space is also designing and building the platform, and will carry out final integration of the MERLIN for CNES and German aerospace centre DLR.
Airbus Defence and Space Space Systems head François Auque said: "When it comes to understanding what is happening to our climate here on Earth, we need the latest technology to give us reliable and accurate data.
"This is where MicroCarb comes in; a next-generation instrument, which will help us to finally understand what CO2 is doing to our environment and our climate."
