Over the past few decades, the earth has been hit by ever stronger and larger fires. During summer 2021 for example, Italy suffers 37,407 fires, which committed more than 5,000 firefighters and 15 Canadair aircraft of the fleet. Italy is not the only country to suffer these dramatic events: the United States, Greece and Turkey have also been affected, as shown by this photo taken by NASA.
The reasons for this exponential growth are many but above all the climate change that turned the summer even hotter, and the arsonists. The hectares of burnt woods and forests are increasing and the health of our planet is worsening, due to the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Research by Greenpeace Italia and Sisef, the Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, found that 8.5 million hectares in Italy were involved in fires between 2000 and 2017. This is why strategies must change: the key is constant monitoring of the territory, so as to prevent the possible enlargement of the fire.
Space technology will be decisive in this fight, thanks to the creation of a network of nanosatellites equipped with infrared cameras, able of analyzing any temperature variation and promptly intervening to shut down, within a few minutes. The constellation of satellites will work together with drones, sensors and cloud computing, all integrated thanks to the use of the new 5G network. The use of satellites to monitor the health of the planet is growing exponentially, confirming the rapid evolution of the space economy and its enormous potential.