Today, in partnership with the Earth Fire Alliance and Muon Space, we shared the first images of wildfires detected by FireSat, a revolutionary new satellite constellation purpose-built to detect and monitor wildfires on a global scale. This marks an important milestone in the ongoing work from Google Research to develop AI-powered tools to protect communities and ecosystems worldwide.
FireSat was designed to create a dataset that transforms how devastating fires are managed. The infrared sensors on the satellite are specifically designed to peer through smoke, and provide accurate, near real-time tracking of fast-evolving fires.
In the first images, FireSat detected a small Oregon fire that went undetected by existing satellite systems. The FireSat constellation will be able to see fires as small as 5×5 meters — which is significantly more powerful than current real-time systems! Once fully operational, the constellation will scan every point of the Earth within 20 minutes, enabling faster fire detection and response.
