AI eyes in the sky: new satellites and artificial intelligence are transforming wildfire detection

Hi-tech cameras orbiting Earth and on the ground, along with AI, help firefighters extinguish blazes before they spread The fires in Spokane, Washington, this summer are the latest reminder that when a wildfire is detected can be just as important as where it starts. A blaze found within minutes can often be contained before it spreads. Wait too long, and a small spark can become a major disaster. A new effort to shorten that timeline began in July when a SpaceX rocket carried the first three FireSat satellites into orbit. The trio is the first part of a planned network of 50 satellites built solely to spot wildfires while they are still small enough to stop. FireSat is designed to fill an important gap. Existing weather and Earth-observing satellites can detect large fires, but they often lack the resolution or revisit the same location too infrequently to spot small fires shortly after they ignite. FireSat is designed to detect fires as small as a beach bonfire and, once the full constellation is deployed, scan every point on Earth about every 20 minutes. The satellites use infrared sensors and artificial intelligence to search for heat that could signal a new wildfire. The syste