Abstract
Climate change around the world has produced a large rise in wildfires. One of the largest polluters on our planet is wildfires. In 2021, wildfires around the world, if combined, were the second largest “nation” in CO2 emissions. By reducing the number of wildfires, we also reduce the subsequent pollution. Thus by reducing the number of wildfires, besides saving our planets environment and ecosystems, not to mention other physical impacts, we also greatly reduce multiple forms of pollution. PROJECT HALO offers a new tool that will see fires close to initiation and relay their location directly to the closest first responder. Thus, by putting fires out while they are small, and stopping them from turning into larger, raging wildfires, we greatly reduce the environmental and pollution impact of wildfires. This has already been demonstrated in 2013 with a joint Department of Defense and Forest Service experiment using the geostationary orbit (GEO) Commercially Hosted InfraRed Payload (CHIRP) satellite program. During a week of testing the CHIRP satellite saw 14 fires, and 13 were reported first to the Forest Service (MG Taverney, USAF, Ret). PROJECT HALO will springboard off of the CHIRP program success and provide a DEDICATED satellite to identify fires while they are very small and send their latitude and longitude to the closest first responder. We will use multiple members of the CHIRP Program. Because of our past and current experience, we see deploying PROJECT HALO as a sophomore program.
Presenters
Gregory SullivanStudent, BS Aerospace Engineering, BS Kinseoligal Sciences, University of Maryland, MD, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Technical, Political, and Social Responses
KEYWORDS
Wildfire Pollution, Climate Change Impact Wildfires, Early Detection of Fires
