The NASA Technology Now Tracking Oilfield Methane
Methane is invisible, odorless, and far more potent than CO2 in the short term, so how do you actually catch it leaking? Brendan Smith, CEO of SeekOps Inc., explains how technology built for the Mars Curiosity rover ended up flying on drones over oil and gas sites here on Earth. We get into spectrometers versus satellites, why offshore detection is so tricky, what EU methane rules mean for US operators in 2027, and how SeekOps turns an invisible gas into something you can finally see.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
00:00 Setup and the Power Hour combo
02:24 Crossing paths back in 2019
04:14 From PhD dropout to CEO
05:24 JPL, the first patent, and Mars rover tech
12:34 How a drone measures a methane plume
13:49 Ground, drones, planes, and satellites
19:00 Spinning out of JPL and the Equinor bet
24:55 What methane is and why it matters
29:01 Net zero and EU methane regulation
32:00 LNG, coal, and offshore detection
42:10 Lidar, photogrammetry, and 3D models
45:36 What's overhyped and the road ahead
49:24 Why Austin, and the Houston debate
53:16 Wrap up
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Click here to watch a video of this episode.
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Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.
Apply today at collide.io
00:00 Setup and the Power Hour combo
02:24 Crossing paths back in 2019
04:14 From PhD dropout to CEO
05:24 JPL, the first patent, and Mars rover tech
12:34 How a drone measures a methane plume
13:49 Ground, drones, planes, and satellites
19:00 Spinning out of JPL and the Equinor bet
24:55 What methane is and why it matters
29:01 Net zero and EU methane regulation
32:00 LNG, coal, and offshore detection
42:10 Lidar, photogrammetry, and 3D models
45:36 What's overhyped and the road ahead
49:24 Why Austin, and the Houston debate
53:16 Wrap up
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