NASA to develop FireSat to locate wildfires across the globe

NASA in collaboration with Quadra Pi R2E, San Francisco will develop FireSat to locate wildfires across the globe. FireSat would be a constellation of more than 200 thermal infrared imaging sensors on satellites. Once operational, FireSat would represent the most complete monitoring coverage of wildfires ever from space. FireSat sensors would detect fires at least 30 to 50 feet wide and within an average of 15 minutes from the time they begin. FireSat sensors would complement the fire monitoring done by NASA satellites and systems already in place. As per the current plan, fully operational FireSat sensors would be in space by June 2018.