Google’s FireSat Satellite Launched To Help Detect Wildfires Early

Taking to its official blog on 17 March 2025, Google proudly announced that the first entry in the FireSat satellite constellation successfully made contact with Earth. This satellite set out for space aboard the SpaceX Transporter 13 mission on 14 March 2025 with a unique goal of detecting wildfires early.

The FireSat Satellite Will Help Fight Wildfires From Space

Over the past few years, we have seen a rise in the spread of wildfires worldwide. Most of these fires are detected late due to the use of low-resolution satellite imagery by various wildfire authorities.

To fight this problem and curb the spread of wildfires, Google partnered with Muon Space to launch the FireSat satellite. Preparations for this launch kicked off on 16 September 2024 with plans to launch this year.

On 17 March 2025 the first of more than 50 FireSat satellites launched into space to help detect smaller wildfires early. The satellite constellation will make use of artificial intelligence to detect and track smaller 5×5 meters of wildfires.

Every 20 minutes, the Google FireSat satellite will update its high-resolution imagery database with new images of the Earth. Armed with this data, fire agencies around the world will be able to find and put out small wildfires even before they start to spread.

Over the coming months, more satellites in the FireSat constellation will launch to help cover more areas of the globe. Once the constellation is complete various fire control agencies globally will be better able to prevent wildfires from spreading hence saving lives and properties.

Preventing Wildfires One Satellite At A Time

The FireSat project was funded by the Google AI Collaborative: Wildfire program. Working closely with Muon Space, a satellite manufacturer based in Silicon Valley, California.

Google provided $13 million to help develop this initiative, fuelling the work on the FireSat project. The team in charge of this project put the funding to good use and developed upon their already existing fire response initiative.

This development now relies on artificial intelligence and well-detailed satellite imagery to detect small wildfires. For now, there is no information on the launch of the other satellites in this constellation.