--- title: Wildfire Technology Tracks the Start of Wildfires description: Wildfires strike suddenly and unexpectedly, destroying homes, taking lives and costing billions of dollars every year. canonical: https://time.com/4122096/nasa-wildfire-technology/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-20T21:27:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:53.589Z article:section: Science og:title: Wildfire Technology Tracks the Start of Wildfires og:description: Wildfires strike suddenly and unexpectedly, destroying homes, taking lives and costing billions of dollars every year. og:url: https://time.com/4122096/nasa-wildfire-technology/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteed96d2d6b12c36a/6988724d524fc0002bdf59a9/fire-satellite-sensors-nasa1.gif?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Fire-satellite-sensors-NASA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wildfire Technology Tracks the Start of Wildfires twitter:description: Wildfires strike suddenly and unexpectedly, destroying homes, taking lives and costing billions of dollars every year. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteed96d2d6b12c36a/6988724d524fc0002bdf59a9/fire-satellite-sensors-nasa1.gif?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This NASA Technology Will Help Fight Wildfires from Space  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 20, 2015 9:27 PM UTC  This animation shows how a proposed constellation of satellites with thermal infrared imaging sensors would locate wildfires. This animation shows how a proposed constellation of satellites with thermal infrared imaging sensors would locate wildfires.Quadra Pi R2E  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 20, 2015 9:27 PM UTC 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](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4775&utm%5Fsource=iContact&utm%5Fmedium=email&utm%5Fcampaign=NASAJPL&utm%5Fcontent=Daily20151119-2). 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](http://time.com/3992447/technology-wildfire-predictions/) 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](http://time.com/3992447/technology-wildfire-predictions/) 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. DigitalGlobe  Kiev, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Itaipu Dam, Paraguay, March 12, 2014. DigitalGlobe  San Diego County, Calif., May 15, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Maschen, Germany, Aug. 6, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Spui Locks at IJmuiden, Netherlands, Aug. 27, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Mount Sinabung, Indonesia, Jan. 23, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Everett, Washington, July 26, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Garden City, Georgia, May 16, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Kobani, Syria, Nov. 6, 2014. DigitalGlobe  World’s largest tire graveyard in Sulaibiya, Kuwait, June 4, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Sinjar, Iraq, Sept. 15, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Huayuanli, China, Oct. 18, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Nordenskjold Basin, Antarctica, March 12, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany, Sept. 24, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Mexico City, Mexico, Aug. 1, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, Somerset, England, June 25, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Bayan Obo Mining District, China, Aug. 23, 2014. DigitalGlobe  The Diavikk Diamond Mine, Canada, Aug. 21, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Cuprite Hill, Nevada, Sept. 19, 2014\. (Spectral-rich imagery, like this, reveals what's below the surface) DigitalGlobe  Rainbow Range, British Columbia, Canada, Sept. 20, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Henan Coal Mine, China, May 29, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Prirazlomnaya Oil Platform, Russia, June 28, 2014. DigitalGlobe  Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, Sept., 2014. DigitalGlobe  Gunja, Croatia, May 21, 2014. 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