Google launches a network of satellites to detect forest fires anywhere in the world
Google Research has launched a new project with some key members of the wildfire community, aiming to provide new tools to help firefighters and other authorities more accurately detect these types of disasters.
Today, thanks to the technology used to capture satellite images, wildfires can only be detected using this technology when they are really large (the size of a football field, to be exact). That’s why Google decided to create the FireSat satellite constellation, which is capable of detecting and tracking wildfires that are just 5 x 5 meters in size.
- This is FireSat, a Google research project that seeks to detect even the smallest wildfires.
FireSat is a project promoted by the Earth Fire Alliance, a non-profit organization, which Google wanted to fund with $13 million. The project aims to provide real-time information about wildfires, including their location, size and intensity, even in the early stages.
This would help authorities fight forest fires more effectively, as the first hours can be crucial in extinguishing these disasters.
Although the basis of the project is a network of satellites capable of taking high-resolution images that are updated every 20 minutes, artificial intelligence is also an important part of the project. In this sense, Google explains that "FireSat quickly compares any point on the ground measuring 5 x 5 meters with previous images of the same point." Thus, taking into account other factors such as nearby infrastructure, or the weather, the possibility of a fire is determined.
The AI models used in the project were trained using controlled fires to reduce the number of false positives and increase the effectiveness of the system.
Now it's time to launch the first satellites into space to launch the project. The company responsible for doing this will be Muon Space, in cooperation with the US Environmental Defense Fund. The first launch is scheduled for early next year, 2025, and over time more and more launches will be added.
This is not the first time Google has launched initiatives aimed at trying to mitigate the impact of fires and other environmental disasters. A few months ago, it became possible to check if there were fires nearby thanks to Google Maps, and at the beginning of the year the company also revealed advances in its artificial intelligence when it comes to identifying floods.