SCARBOn Second General Assembly

One of the mission’s key instruments to measure GHG emissions, the NanoCarb prototype (defined by  UGA, ONERA and Absolut Systems), is currently close to completing its manufacturing, which will allow the start of the final on‑ground testing steps. It will be further tested in an airborne campaign planned for spring 2026, jointly run by UGA, ONERA, ICGC, BIRA-IASB and DLR. Campaign data will feed the validation of the performance model and of the technological upgrade of the instrument prototype, namely its capacity to assess the sensitivity of detection of the CO2 plume. At the same time, major design progress on the NanoCarb space version has been significantly achieved thanks to ONERA, UGA, Absolut Systems, Airbus DS and CNRS. The instrument’s optical and thermal concepts have been defined, detector options evaluated, and both baseline and alternative choices selected. This brings the instrument closer to a manufacturable, space‑ready version.

Furthermore, the definition of the SPEXone instrument associated with the SCARBOn mission (Airbus Netherlands), a multi-angle imaging spectropolarimeter providing complementary aerosol measurements, has been completed. Its accommodation on the SCARBOn satellite platform will be finalised in the coming months.

At the system level, L1-L2 retrievals have confirmed that the mission’s instruments can deliver high‑accuracy data on CO2 and CH4 emissions. Our work continues on refining the constellation design enabling frequent revisits – a unique combination of characteristics for space‑based GHG monitoring.