Google funds a satellite constellation powered by AI that will detect wildfires quicker
It hopes to launch all 52 satellites by the end of this decade. It hopes to launch all 52 satellites by around the end of this decade.
Each satellite is designed to last about five years, so the organization will eventually need to deploy 10 more each year to maintain the constellation.
The Earth Fire Alliance has secured about two-thirds of the funding it needs for the first phase of the program, which includes the first four launches. It will be necessary to raise money from other organizations and government agencies to maintain and operate the entire constellation. As Collins explained in an email, “Adjacent uses range from land-use management and agriculture, to risk management, industrial impact, and mitigation, to security and safety related data.”
“At the time, we also know that large agencies and governments adopt FireSat to support a broad mandate for public safety, they could develop all-hazard management, emergenc
, and security-related uses of data,” Collins added. “As long as opportunities are in balance with our charter to advance a global approach to wildfire and climate resilience, we welcome new ideas and applications of our data.”
‘Living with fire'[y]A wide variety of startups have emerged in recent years promising to use technology to reduce the frequency and severity of wildfires–for example, by installing cameras and sensors in forests and grasslands, developing robots to carry out controlled burns, deploying autonomous helicopters that can drop suppressant, and harnessing AI to predict wildfire behavior and inform forest and fire management strategies.
So far, even with all these new tools, it’s still been difficult for communities to keep pace with the rising dangers.
Dargan Marquis–who founded her own wildfire software company, Intterra–says she is confident the incidence of disastrous fires can be meaningfully reduced with programs like FireSat, along with other improved technologies and policies. She says that as the climate continues to warm, it will take decades for the world to catch up. She adds, “We can turn the corner.”
If we develop a comprehensive plan with data that is convincing over the next fifty years, then I think we can live with fire by the end.
