Ororatech successfully completes first satellite mission

The Munich-based start-up has developed a technology that can detect forest fires at an early stage with the help of satellite images.

Ororatech's Forest 1 satellite has been in space since January. Now the Munich-based start-up is announcing the first successes of its technology, which can detect forest fires at an early stage: At the end of May, the satellite equipped with a thermal imaging camera detected bushfires in Borroloola, Australia.

Images of a 170-kilometer section showed plumes of smoke. The heat signature of the fire was accurately seen on the satellite's medium-wave infrared sensor. Using long waves, the startup was also able to measure the temperature on the ground.

With its technology, Ororatech aims to close a data gap in the detection of forest fires. According to the study, fires are often only reported up to eight hours later, as it is difficult for satellites to detect forest fires in the afternoon. Using a graphics card, Ororatech's satellite technology transmits high-resolution images in real time. "In a few years, we will be able to detect forest fires worldwide within 30 minutes with our constellation," Ororatech CEO Thomas Grübler is certain.

Currently, the Munich-based start-up is still using data from other satellites for forest fire management. Forest 1 now served as the first test for its own technology. By the end of 2023, the start-up wants to put another eight satellites into orbit.