The FireBird Mission – A Scientific Mission for Earth Observation and Hot SpotDetection

Kurzfassung

More than 10 years ago the first specialized small satellite for hot spot recognition and fire observation was designed, built and operated by several DLR departments. This BIRD (Bi-spectral Infra Red Detection) satellite demonstrated the capability of fire monitoring from space by using a dedicated small satellite and sensor system. On the other hand it has shown that DLR is capable to manage nearly a complete space mission “in house”. The comparison of typical BIRD data with the well-known MODIS fire products led to the label “fire zoom” for BIRD data. It is due to the high geometric and radiometric resolution of BIRD fire products. Typically small fires with a diameter of 4m could be detected. The precise estimation of fire parameters was successfully shown without problems like false alarms. The success of BIRD opened the doors for next steps. The scientific DLR Earth observation mission “FireBird” will continue the fire monitoring topic by using two small satellites (TET-1, launched June 2012, BIROS launch planed 2014). The paper shall present this mission. It will finally be focused on possible interfaces for a desired worldwide international scientific cooperation within this running space mission.