Google-Backed FireSat Satellites Launch to Catch Small Wildfires Before They Spread

The first three operational satellites in the FireSat constellation launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, marking a milestone for a program purpose-built to spot wildfires that existing satellites can't see.

The microsatellites, designed by California's Muon Space and funded with over $15 million from Google plus $26 million from the Bezos Earth Fund, use multispectral imaging to detect fires as small as 16 by 16 feet—even through smoke and clouds. A prototype launched in 2025 proved the concept, capturing over one million images and identifying low-intensity blazes invisible to current systems.

After three months of testing, the satellites will deliver data to fire agencies in California, Colorado, Australia, and Portugal. The nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance, which manages the constellation, aims to cover every fire-prone region on Earth at least twice daily. Google Research plans to layer its AI models on top of the data to improve small-fire identification and predictive modeling.

The launch arrives as smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires blankets much of North America. Nearly 900 active fires are burning across Canada, and the country has already seen more than 3,600 wildfires this year. The FireSat team projects that even an hourly revisit rate could save over $1 billion in damage costs and prevent roughly 22 million tons of carbon emissions annually.

The program's broader ambitions are significant: a full constellation of 50-plus satellites by the early 2030s would deliver fresh imagery every 20 minutes globally. But detection alone won't solve the crisis—fire agencies still need resources for prescribed burns and suppression, a challenge growing harder as climate change makes Canadian wildfires larger and more intense.