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Australia’s GTFA using German satellite to detect bushfires

Screenshot of the Green Triangle Fire Alliance from the OroraTech Wildfire Monitoring System. Image: OroraTech

Edinburgh / Munich, 15 December 2021. – Ororatech announced it has signed a pilot contract with the Green Triangle Fire Alliance (GTFA) for satellite-based Wildfire Intelligence Service over the 2021/22 fire season. The GTFA is located along the border of South Australia and Victoria. It represents 17% of the country’s plantations, comprising over 320,000 hectares of pine and eucalypt trees.

OroraTech will increase coverage of the area in question by launching its own cubesats into space. The new system will be used together with fire spotting towers, stationary cameras and other technologies to detect fires immediately.

The GTFA and OroraTech have collaborated with the University of South Australia before in 2019. That project aimed to protect New South Wales and Tasmania from bushfires. OroraTech has since developed a platform utilising 19 different satellite data sources to improve forest fire detection and monitoring. 

The company is planning to launch their first satellite in January next year. Later, the firm will expand their space presence to a larger constellation for enhanced detection times.

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