AIRMO

Founded in 2022, AIRMO is a climate and space technology startup developing a satellite-based greenhouse gas monitoring platform. The company was co-founded by CEO Daria Stepanova, Pavels Razmajevs, Dr. Errico Armandillo, and Harriet von Kügelgen. Stepanova, an aerospace engineer with over a decade of experience in the space industry, identified a critical gap in the availability of high-resolution, actionable data for tracking methane emissions. This led to the creation of AIRMO, which aims to set a new standard for emissions measurement.

AIRMO is developing a constellation of small satellites equipped with a proprietary payload that includes a micro-LiDAR, a Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) spectrometer, and a camera. This combination of technologies allows for the precise, near-real-time detection, quantification, and localization of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at the facility level. The LiDAR component corrects for atmospheric distortions, significantly improving measurement accuracy compared to existing technologies. The company's service is designed to provide global coverage with a high revisit rate, enabling continuous monitoring.

Operating on a B2B model, AIRMO's primary clients are direct emitters such as oil and gas companies, petrochemical plants, and waste management facilities, as well as regulators and governments that require tools to verify emissions reports. The business model is structured around selling data credits, where customers purchase yearly pools of credits to be used for monitoring specific locations over time. The company is also developing drone and aircraft-based monitoring services to complement its satellite data. Backed by venture capital and a significant contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) through its InCubed program, AIRMO has secured over €8 million in funding to date. The first satellite is scheduled for launch in 2026.

Keywords: greenhouse gas monitoring, methane detection, CO2 emissions, LiDAR, satellite constellation, space technology, climate tech, emissions data, remote sensing, earth observation, environmental monitoring, asset-level emissions, SWIR spectrometer, emissions intelligence, regulatory compliance, OGMP 2.0, leak detection and repair, satellite data, climate risk, air quality monitoring