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The wildfire season was already running ahead of schedule when three new satellites reached orbit.
By the end of June, fires had burned more than a million hectares across the United States, far above the recent average. Now fire agencies may soon get a new source of information: FireSat, a satellite network built specifically to detect and track wildfires.
Its first three operational satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-17 mission, a step toward a planned fleet of more than 50 satellites that could give responders faster, clearer views of fires before they have the chance to spread too much.
A Restless Fire Season
The new satellite launches arrives during a severe U.S. wildfire season. By the end of June, more than 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) had burned nationwide—157% of the previous 10-year average, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Some of the largest fires began unusually early. In February, the Ranger Road fire burned nearly 121,000 hectares across Oklahoma and Kansas. In March, the Morrill and Cottonwood fires consumed more than 312,000 hectares across Nebraska.
Yet even the biggest fires start with a single ignition. Traditional weather satellites can spot smaller blazes, but they were not built mainly for wildfire response. They often miss small fires, especially when smoke, clouds, or reflected sunlight interfere.
FireSat’s satellites, built by Muon Space for the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance, use a six-channel infrared instrument to detect heat signatures beyond what human eyes can see. The system can identify fires as small as about 5 by 5 meters (16 by 16 feet), roughly the size of a small garage, according to Muon Space.
Short-wave infrared can see through smoke. Mid-wave infrared can detect both intense flames and lower-intensity burns. Long-wave infrared measures ground temperature. Near infrared shows how plants and trees respond as fire moves.
The system also uses artificial intelligence from Google Research to compare new satellite images with older images, weather, and local conditions. That helps separate real fires from false signals, such as sunlight glinting off a metal roof.
The Fire Watch
FireSat first began as a prototype satellite launched in March 2025. Later that year, it spotted a small roadside grass fire in Oregon that existing satellite systems missed.
“FireSat has already proven that a satellite built specifically for wildfire can detect fires earlier and smaller than was previously possible,” Jonny Dyer, chief executive of Muon Space, said in a statement. “With these satellites, we turn that proof into an operational service—the start of dedicated coverage that fire managers can count on day after day.”
The Earth Fire Alliance grew out of a basic complaint from fire officials around the world: they did not have a clear enough picture of where fires were starting, how fast they were spreading, or what they were likely to do next.
“We realized there was a big gap in the understanding of fire,” said Brian Collins, the group’s executive director, according to Fast Company. “The biggest theme that kept coming up was better data to truly understand the scope and scale of wildfire across the planet.”
The first three operational satellites are expected to begin tracking fires in places including the United States, Australia, and Portugal before the end of 2026. As the constellation grows, Earth Fire Alliance and Muon Space aim for hourly global revisits by 2029 and, eventually, checks of every point on Earth about every 20 minutes.
Faster Warnings
Earlier detection could help agencies reach fires before they turn into large disasters. It could also help remote regions, including the Amazon, where officials may not learn about a fire until it has burned for many hours.
The system may also build a fuller global record of fire. Many small or low-intensity burns never appear in today’s fire databases, leaving scientists with an incomplete picture of how fire behaves in a warming world.
Earth Fire Alliance and Muon Space estimate that a mature FireSat network could save the United States more than $1 billion a year in fire-damage costs, protect about 3,500 homes and properties, and reduce burned land by millions of hectares. Public estimates cited by the sources range from about 500,000 to 900,000 fewer hectares burned annually.
The satellites still need to prove they can deliver fast, accurate alerts to crews under real fire conditions. But Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire, said the launch “marks a transformative step toward space-enabled wildfire intelligence, strengthening California’s resilience and demonstrating the power of global collaboration in confronting increasingly complex fire years.”
This story originally appeared on ZME Science. Want to get smarter every day? Subscribe to our newsletter and stay ahead with the latest science news.
