Overview

Hot Spot will use high-altitude balloons to solve two pressing problems facing wildfire managers: first, the need for high-resolution observations of active and burgeoning wildfires; second, the difficulty of sharing those observations with first responders far from reliable broadband coverage. From the stratosphere, balloon-based sensors will image wilderness areas at a rate of 3,000 acres per minute, with spatial resolution of 3.5 meters. In addition, these instruments will serve as mobile broadband hot spots, providing first responders with communications in the field.

Science Area

Remote wildfires far from urban infrastructure are uniquely difficult to manage. Observation tools for monitoring these wilderness areas are scarce, and ignition can occur during the time it takes airborne or spaceborne assets to complete a pass. Hot Spot would equip wildfire managers with a new tool for monitoring remote areas for long periods of time, and at resolutions superior to that of other platforms. It will be useful for both assessing active burns and for catching ignitions early enough to prevent massive wildfires from occurring.

Technology

Hot Spot will leverage a novel, suborbital remote sensing platform suspended from high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere, about 18 kilometers above the ground. These helium-filled balloons are lightweight, low-cost, low-emission, and easy to deploy. For wildfire applications, Hot Spot will include a payload featuring a Long Wave Infra-Red (LWIR) uncooled microbolometer sensor, equipped with either the Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) Boson 640 or Boson+ 640 camera, and a 73 mm F 1.4 LWIR lens system to achieve broadband (8 μm – 14 μm) thermal sensing. The entire sensor package will weight about 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds).

Advancements

• Novel communications repeater will keep wildfire managers and firefighters connected to one another, even when they’re deep in the field and far from established communications systems.
• Edge processing system will enable real-time production of high-resolution data products, reducing the amount of time it takes firefighters in the field to receive high-resolution burn maps.
• Modified sensor array will capture Visible-to-Near-Infrared (VNIR) light, enabling superior assessments of forest stress and vegetation health in pre- and post-fire environments.

Principal Investigator

Jared Leidich, PE, has a background in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering, with experience working at companies such as Urban Sky, World View, and Paragon Space Development Corporation. Jared has also been involved with Engineers Without Borders, and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). With a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder, Jared has worked on projects ranging from aerial imaging technology to space exploration and satellite development.

Leidich is assisted by Riley Reid (Urban Sky); Joshua Fisher, (Chapman University); and Ian McCubbin (JPL).