A Google-backed weapon to battle wildfires made it into orbit

Date:

Share post:


The first satellite of the Google-backed FireSat constellation successfully made it to orbit over the weekend, kicking off what promises to be a new era in wildfire detection and monitoring.

The constellation will keep a close eye on wildfires. When fully operational, the constellation’s more than 50 satellites will be able to image nearly all of Earth’s surface once every 20 minutes. The initial phase will consist of just three satellites, and it will revisit every point on the globe twice per day when it’s operational in 2026.

The first satellite was built by Muon Space and launched aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 13 mission on March 14 from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The sensor suite consists of six-band multispectral infrared cameras, which are tuned to detect wildfires from a distance.

Most wildfire tracking today uses aerial photography via airplanes or low-resolution satellite imagery that’s been repurposed for the task. The former is expensive, limiting how frequently it can be updated, while the latter suffers from low resolution and sensors not specifically tuned to wildfire detection.

The FireSate constellation is designed to solve both of those problems. Its produces five-meter resolution imagery, and when the constellation is flying its full complement, it’ll provide firefighters with near real-time updates on a fire’s whereabouts and behavior.

The constellation is a joint effort between Muon Space and the Earth Fire Alliance, a nonprofit supported by Google, Muon Space, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Minderoo Foundation.



Source link

Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden
Lisa Holden is a news writer for LinkDaddy News. She writes health, sport, tech, and more. Some of her favorite topics include the latest trends in fitness and wellness, the best ways to use technology to improve your life, and the latest developments in medical research.

Recent posts

Related articles

Waymo’s milestone SFO mapping permit comes with strings attached

Waymo has been given permission to map roadways at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) via a...

Google revives talks to acquire Wiz at higher valuation

Google’s parent company Alphabet is again in advanced talks to acquire cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz, a person...

OpenAI exec leaves to found materials science startup

Liam Fedus, OpenAI’s VP of research for post-training, is leaving the company to found a materials science...

Intel could be in for significant changes as Lip-Bu Tan takes on CEO role

Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan seems ready to get right to work to turn around the struggling...

Rippling sues Deel, Deel denies ‘all legal wrongdoing,’ and Slack is the main witness

It’s gloves off in one of the more tense rivalries in the world of startups. HR company...

This app limits your screen time by making you literally touch grass

If you’ve ever spent way too long scrolling through endless feeds about nothing, you may have been...

Flexport accuses former employees of stealing its source code to create a rival startup

Creating a startup that competes with your former employer can be risky. Apple, for example, once sued a former chip...

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, acquires a generative AI video startup

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has acquired Hotshot, a startup working on AI-powered video generation tools along...