Artist's rendering of MethaneSAT, the satellite EDF developed. Photo: Supplied / Environmental Defence Fund
A New Zealand astronomer has spoken out against what he says is a lack of public accountability for $29m taxpayer funding for a methane satellite.
Staff and students at Auckland University were expecting to be driving the MethaneSAT satellite by now but the mission control wasn't handed over by the end of 2024, and the Space Agency has refused to say why, citing confidentiality.
Auckland University astrophysics professor Richard Easther, who is not involved in the mission, said he would have expected public accountability for any delays given the taxpayer funding involved.
"The idea of tracking methane emissions from space and encouraging emitters to mitigate them is a really strong one, and MethaneSAT is one of a suite of satellites operating in that space," he said.
"Certainly in 2019 it looked like an exciting thing to do."
"I still think that," he said.
"But I think the concern anyone would have is there were expectations around when the data would become available and those expectations have not been met, and there's been no real public disclosure as to why that hasn't happened."
"I have said consistently through this that there does need to be openness about this, for what is essentially a publicly funded mission from the New Zealand perspective."
The project is the brainchild of the non-profit American green group the Environmental Defence Fund, and major funders include billionaire Jeff Bezos' Earth Fund.
The satellite was launched from the United States in March 2024 to detect and shut down rogue sources of methane, a potent planet-heating gas that comes from oil and gas fields, cattle, wetlands, rice paddies and organic waste.
"We're not putting in majority [of funding] but we are putting in a substantial amount," Easther said.
"I would expect that MBIE [the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment] as stewards of that money would be expecting accountability, and I would be expecting that accountability would be public."
Another astronomer RNZ spoke to said future taxpayer-funded missions should be subject to a contestable process.
Astronomy lecturer Michele Bannister of University of Canterbury said the lack of information from the Space Agency was a result of the way the process was run.
"I would love to see a competed call for a New Zealand space mission," she said.
"We have the community to do this now, we even have a launch provider."
"But a lot of this is also about process and we have learnt from the exercise that there are a variety of ways we could approach this," she said.
Bannister has worked on missions with NASA and others.
"My experience with being involved with space missions overseas is that there is a clear public timeline of what you're trying to accomplish, some of it might only be of interest at a technical level, but it generally has a large aspect of ongoing communication."
In November 2022 the launch of the methane-measuring satellite was quietly delayed by at least a year, a fact that only came to light after media inquiries to then-Minister Ayesha Verrall.
Queries about data delivery from RNZ last year to MBIE (the overarching ministry for the Space Agency) and Crown science agency NIWA were answered by MethaneSAT's US headquarters, after New Zealand officials asked MethaneSAT how to respond.
In October 2024, the Space Agency told RNZ the satellite's mission control was on track to be handed to Auckland University before the end of 2024.
The Space Agency has said it hoped to be able to provide an update within two weeks on what it calls the next stage of the MethaneSAT mission.
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