Next year, even wildfires won’t be able to hide from Google. The company is working with Muon Space, the Earth Fire Alliance, and others to launch FireSat, a constellation of satellites that will monitor Earth’s surface for wildfires, updating imagery for authorities every 20 minutes. Google helped develop the infrared sensors that’ll look for telltale heat signatures and feed them to its AI fire-detection models. Currently, fire agencies have to navigate a frustrating trade-off when it comes to satellite imagery: They can get it infrequently at high resolution or faster at low resolution.
The goal with FireSat is to detect fires as small as five square meters, small enough and early enough that they might be stamped out before they turn into forest-devouring conflagrations. The first satellite launches in early 2025, with the remaining 50 or so to launch over the coming years.