University of Alberta satellites to monitor wildfires from space
Posted March 10, 2023 3:05 pm.
Last Updated March 15, 2023 9:25 am.
Four Canadian satellites are about to make their way to space. While Canada sending tech to space isn’t new, these satellites were designed and built by students at the University of Alberta and will be used to assess wildfires.
Weighing about two kilograms, the four satellites were created to predict, monitor and assess wildfires and their aftereffects from space. The U of A project was inspired by the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires.
The students’ cubesat, Ex-Alta 2, will be hitching a ride on a SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), next Tuesday.
Once on the ISS, astronauts will eject them into space, where they’ll begin their mission.
While on their mission, the satellites will use a multispectral imager to capture ground vegetation and atmospheric data. That data will allow scientists to track wildfires.
Ex-Alta 2 also follows the Canadian Space Agency’s success with Ex-Alta 1, which was launched in 2017, that monitored space storms, involving high-energy particles in Earth’s magnetic fields.
A live stream of the SpaceX launch can be watched on NASA’s website at 6:30 p.m. MST, on March 14.
