Early Detection of Wildfires in the European Area with Nano-Satellite Constellations

According to the report published by the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, areas burned by forest and wildland fires reached a record high in 2021. Likewise, the area burned by forest and wildland fires is increased compared to the last ten years' average in Europe in 2022. The total area burned is directly related to the response time to fires. Therefore, it is essential to decrease the fire detection times to decrease the burned land. In the scope of this paper, a satellite constellation-based wildfire detection system is examined. Different constellations with different orbit parameters are considered. Results are evaluated from the point of cost and efficiency. Revisit times for the specified areas are calculated to prove the short fire detection times, better than 10 minutes are possible with the proposed constellation.