FireSat Constellation Aims to Transform Wildfire Response
FireSat Constellation Aims to Transform Wildfire Response
First Phase to Launch in 2026
The FireSat Constellation, an initiative aiming to transform global wildfire response and enhance climate resilience worldwide, has been announced by Muon Space and Earth Fire Alliance.
"FireSat will change the way we view wildfires across the planet."
Brian Collins, Earth Fire Alliance
FireSat has been developed over the last five years with the expertise and support of Google Research and leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Google.org, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Minderoo Foundation along with guidance from over 200 members of the federal, state, and local fire community. The FireSat Constellation will provide the most comprehensive, high-fidelity data to protect Earth's ecosystems from the escalating threat of wildfires. The Moore Foundation's report on wildfire details the billions of dollars of economic value that can be generated with even small improvements in response times.
The first phase of the FireSat Constellation, launching in 2026, will consist of three Muon Halo™ satellites equipped with state-of-the-art 6-band multispectral infrared (IR) instruments designed and optimized for the wildfire mission. Designed to capture comprehensive fire characterization data across every stage of a fire's lifecycle, the FireSat Constellation will give decision-makers and first responders near real-time insights, enabling informed responses and facilitating the adoption of beneficial fire management practices. With the first three satellites, the FireSat Constellation will observe every point on Earth at least twice a day, with key wildfire-prone regions revisited more frequently. At full capability with 50+ satellites, the revisit times for most of the globe improve to 20 minutes, with the most wildfire-prone regions benefitting from sampling intervals as short as nine minutes.
"We believe that high-fidelity data, equitably accessible on a global scale will help us more effectively reduce the negative impacts of wildfire, improve land management, and recognize beneficial fire practices that contribute to more resilient communities," said Brian Collins, Executive Director of Earth Fire Alliance. "FireSat will change the way we view wildfires across the planet."
Distinguished by its advanced multispectral IR instrument, the FireSat Constellation is uniquely equipped to differentiate genuine wildfire events from false positives and enhance the accuracy and reliability of wildfire detection and assessment of fire intensity. The FireSat constellation will operate in LEO with an observation swath of 1,500 km (≈930 miles) and an average ground sample distance of 80 meters (≈260 feet). The instrument can detect sites of fire ignition and hot spots as small as 5x5 meters (16x16 feet).
"In partnership with Earth Fire Alliance, we are seeking to empower not only first responders but also communities and policymakers with the insights needed to combat the escalating threat of wildfires, building a more resilient future for generations to come," said Dan McCleese, Chief Scientist of Muon Space.
"This dataset will be a valuable foundation for Earth Science research. Together with the fire community, we are looking forward to applying modern machine learning techniques to scalably detect and track fires globally to make it usable for on-the-ground decision making," said Chris Van Arsdale, who helped initiate the project from Google Research and sits on the Earth Fire Alliance Board of Directors.
The FireSat constellation will provide frequent, near-real time fire operational guidance to first responders and incident managers. Frequent and accurate fire perimeter maps improve safety for frontline responders while radiative power maps track a fire's intensity, direction, and rate of growth. This high resolution, near real-time data will provide critical information to protect life, property, and ecosystems.
Recognizing the urgent need for a coordinated global effort to address the wildfire crisis and its profound impact on our planet's climate, EFA is dedicated to leveraging advanced data-driven technologies to shift the paradigm from reactive firefighting to proactive wildfire management.
Muon Space will launch its FireSat pathfinder satellite in 2025 ahead of phase one of the FireSat Constellation of three spacecraft in 2026. FireSat is designed to operate in an untasked 'always-on' mode over land, delivering a variety of processed data products (e.g. fire detection and perimeter maps, radiative power) and dissemination in near real-time.