Success of the first demos of the Fire RS project with the Lume-1 nanosatellite

May 23, 2019

Success of the first demonstrations of the Fire RS project with the Lume-1 nanosatellite

The first performance demonstrations of the Lume-1 nanosatellite have been a success. The CubeSat, developed by the Alén Space team, is part of the European project FireRS, coordinated by the Universidade de Vigo, with the participation of the Universidade do Porto and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique from Toulouse.

FireRS, acronym from wildFIRE Remote Sensing, aims the early detection and monitoring of forest fires. The project integrates multiple technologies, from the Lume-1 nanosatellite to other cutting-edge solutions, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones), infrared sensors, M2M devices, or a software for simulating the evolution of fires.

So far, two demonstrations have been carried out. The first took place on 23 and 24 April in Salvaterra do Miño (Spain). Through a controlled fire at SEGANOSA facilities, three basic process were validated:

  • The capacity of infrared cameras to detect real fire and generate an alarm, with coordinate indications and data of the associated meteorological station.
  • The communication between terminals and the satellite to send said alarm.
  • The distribution of the alarm through the Internet to make it reach the French team, located in Toulouse, in charge of evaluating the situation and generating a flight plan.

From yesterday, May 22, until today a second demonstration has been organised in Porto (Portugal), in which the following aspects have been evaluated:

  • The drones’ capacity for the reception of the flight plan sent from the Vigo ground station through the M2M devices installed on board.
  • The drones’ ability to send a confirmation indicating the correct reception of the flight plan with the use of M2M devices and the nanosatellite.

Both tests have served to confirm the perfect operation of Lume-1, which has been in space for five months now, since its launch on December 27, 2018 on a Soyuz rocket.

Featured image: UVigo / Demo in Salvaterra do Miño (Spain)

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