Scots firm seeks funding to build fire-spotting satellite

Published on Saturday 14 February 2009 12:32

A SCOTTISH company is raising funds to develop a satellite that could help track and prevent the spread of forest fires such as those that recently devastated parts of south-eastern Australia.

Glasgow-based Clyde Space designs components and power systems for small satellites and hopes to adapt some of its pipeline technology to provide early warning of wildfire outbreaks from space so they can be stopped before they take hold.

"Apart from saving people's lives, homes and a lot of devastation, having a way of finding fires before they spread could save the insurance industry billions," explains Clyde Space's managing director Craig Clark.

"We're in discussions with a Government funding body about a satellite camera system that could be used for monitoring forest fires. It's definitely possible to have an instrument to do that, and we have the capability in this country to build and operate such a system."

Satellites fitted with cameras are already used in the agricultural industry to monitor whether farmers are complying with EU legislation on crop rotation. Near-infrared technology also helps satellite cameras to detect areas of plant disease that require treatment.

"The challenge in identifying early signs of forest fires is that you need to have a satellite overhead at least every half hour," Clark says. "The cost of launching such a system into space has been prohibitive, mainly due to the physical size of the satellite needed. However, recent development activity in Scotland in the area of miniature spacecraft has resulted in the ability to fly a high-quality medium resolution camera system on a satellite that weighs less than 5kg and is smaller than a shoebox.

"This in turn means it would be possible to put a forest fire early-warning system in space for less than 50m – which is about the same as the cost of a single fighter jet."

Several recent successes could help Clyde Space develop the forest fire system. It has just won a 70,000 Smart Feasibility Award from the Scottish Government to develop an "attitude control system" that enables the satellites to point in the right direction as they hurtle through space at around 18,000 miles per hour. The European Space Agency has also just awarded Clyde Space a contract to develop a propulsion system that would maintain the orbit of the multiple satellites operating in a "constellation" so they can be guaranteed to remain in the right place throughout the mission.

Clark, an electronics graduate from the University of Glasgow, founded Clyde Space in 2005 after 11 years of working for a Surrey company that pioneered the first generation of smaller satellites.

Clyde Space is now one of the world's leading developers and suppliers of football-sized satellites weighing around a kilo – a fraction of the 1,000-plus kilo weights of the original satellites in space.

These micro or nano satellites, which can be constructed with off-the-shelf electronic components, allow satellites to be launched into space more cheaply and in constellations of small craft with more functionality and flexibility than older, larger satellites.

The Clyde Space and Strathclyde University teams hope to use their combined skills to launch Scotland's first satellite and develop an advanced tiny commercial satellite, dubbed the "CubeSat", that could collect data from remote locations such as windfarms.

With demand for these smaller, cheaper and more versatile satellites growing exponentially in commercial, scientific and defence fields, including communication and surveying, Clyde Space has seen sales double every year and expects turnover to reach 1m this year. The company now sells its satellite systems online and over the past two years has supplied customers in several countries.

The bushfires that tore through the state of Victoria last week killed at least 180 people, injured some 500, left nearly 5,000 homeless and razed 1.1 million acres of land.