Compact-Fire Infrared Radiance Spectral Tracker (c-FIRST) for SmallSat Platform

Remote sensing and characterization of high temperature targets on the Earth’s surface is required for many cross-disciplinary science investigations and applications including wildland fire and volcano impacts on ecology, the carbon cycle, and atmospheric composition. For decades this research has been hindered by insufficient spatial resolution and/or detector saturation of satellite sensors operating at short and mid-infrared wavelengths (1-5 μm) where the spectral radiance from high temperature (>800 K) surfaces is most significant.