First Operational FireSat Satellites Launch to Detect Wildfires as Smoke Engulfs US and Canada

The first three operational satellites in the Google-backed FireSat program launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 7, 2026, as wildfires sent smoke across the United States and Canada. After a three-month testing period, the satellites will begin detecting even small wildfires and will cover every fire-prone region on Earth at least twice per day. The constellation, built by Muon Space and supported by $15 million from Google and $26 million from the Bezos Earth Fund, is the first designed specifically for wildfire detection.