Could NASA’s Methane Sniffing Drone Have Prevented Leak in California?



Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official- nasa.opls.drone.mars.methane.leak.california.01_occupycorporatismSusanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Brands

 

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has created a tiny sensor that will sniff out methane with the strength of a few parts per billion via a laser spectrometer.

Called the Open Path Laser Spectrometer (OPLS), this device which was developed to smell gas leaks on Mars , is expected to be deployed on a drone quadcopter to survey areas on earth.

Using this technology, oil and gas corporations could spy on pipelines and know instantly if there is the slightest increase in methane expulsion – signaling a leak that needs repair.

Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official- nasa.opls.drone.mars.methane.leak.california_occupycorporatismThe JPL researchers collaborated with the University of California Mechatronics Embedded Systems and Automation Laboratory (MESA) to test the OPLS with startling results.

At the Merced Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve, the team conducted test flights to demonstrate the “efficiency and accuracy” of the OPLS in a controlled environment.

Lance Christensen, principal investigator of the OPLS at the JPL, said : “These tests mark the latest chapter in the development of what we believe will eventually be a universal methane monitoring system for detecting fugitive natural-gas emissions and contributing to studies of climate change.”

The OPLS would have helped with the efforts to stop the natural gas leak in Aliso Canyon that released 100,000 tonnes of methane – the equivalent of half a million automobile’s worth of pollution.

This leak emanated from a large underground natural gas facility connected to 115 wells at the Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas).

Because an estimated 11,000 residents were threatened by this leak that continued for 16 weeks, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency.

The University of California at Davis (UCD) scientists conducted a study on the effects of the leak and discovered:

  • The amount of methane released into the atmosphere far exceeded the 2004 natural gas leak in Texas
  • The leak retards California’s efforts to meet greenhouse gas emissions targets

Stephen Conley, lead author of the study explained that the “Aliso Canyon is by far largest [and] had the largest climate impact; it beats the BP oil spill.”

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