![This animation shows how a proposed constellation of satellites with thermal infrared imaging sensors would locate wildfires.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/fire-satellite-sensors-nasa1.gif?w=2400&quality=85)
Wildfires strike suddenly and unexpectedly, destroying homes, taking lives and costing billions of dollars every year. Now, scientists say that new satellite technology developed by NASA will help predict where fires will strike next.
The system, known as FireSat, uses infrared sensors to identify wildfires when they have grown to be at least 35 to 50 feet wide, according to a NASA press release. That area may sound large, but it pales in comparison to the size of wildfires that can destroy millions of acres. Detection by the system occurs within 15 minutes of the beginning of a fire.
“Delays in detection can lead to rapid escalation of a fire, and dramatic growth of the cost of suppression,” Robert Staehle, lead designer of FireSat at JPL, said in a press release. “The system we envision will work day and night for fires anywhere in the world.”
Read More: This Technology Could Help Predict Where Wildfires Strike Next
NASA has used satellites to track wildfires for years, but the new system marks a vast improvement in imaging capability. Existing satellite technology can transmit fire images a few times a day. The new technology, developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), transmits an image once a minute, according to the press release. JPL hopes it will be fully operational by 2018.
Learning about a fire exactly when it starts can make a dramatic difference in preventing its rapid expansion. The 2014 King Fire, for instance, spread across California forest land 10 miles in one afternoon. It would eventually burn nearly 100,000 acres of land.
FireSat is far from the only technology in the works that helps predict wildfires. Another NASA-funded project incorporates weather and topography information, among other things, to determine how a wildfire is likely to spread across a given area.
See 25 Incredible Images of Earth From Space
![Alberta, Canada, Oct. 10, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-25.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Kiev, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-17.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Itaipu Dam, Paraguay, March 12, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-24.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![San Diego County, Calif., May 15, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-02.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Maschen, Germany, Aug. 6, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-13.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Spui Locks at IJmuiden, Netherlands, Aug. 27, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-15.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Mount Sinabung, Indonesia, Jan. 23, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-04.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Everett, Washington, July 26, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-16.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Garden City, Georgia, May 16, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-03.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Kobani, Syria, Nov. 6, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-09.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![World’s largest tire graveyard in Sulaibiya, Kuwait, June 4, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-08.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Sinjar, Iraq, Sept. 15, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-11.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Huayuanli, China, Oct. 18, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-14.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Nordenskjold Basin, Antarctica, March 12, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-23.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany, Sept. 24, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-12.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Mexico City, Mexico, Aug. 1, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-07.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, Somerset, England, June 25, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-01.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Bayan Obo Mining District, China, Aug. 23, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-20.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![The Diavikk Diamond Mine, Canada, Aug. 21, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-21.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Cuprite Hill, Nevada, Sept. 19, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-06.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Rainbow Range, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 20, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-22.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Henan Coal Mine, China, May 29, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-19.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Prirazlomnaya Oil Platform, Russia, June 28, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-05.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, Sept., 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-10.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Gunja, Croatia, May 21, 2014.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/best-satellite-photos-from-space-18.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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Write to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com