Technology Development for Support of Wildfire Science, Management, and Disaster Mitigation

Other Funding
  • Program Type
    Other Funding

NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) is prioritizing improvements in the prediction, management, and the understanding of overall impacts of wildfires within the United States and around the world. ESD’s Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO), through coordination with the division’s Applied Sciences and Research and Analysis elements, the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), and the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, is introducing this new program element, Technology Development for Support of Wildfire Science, Management, and Disaster Mitigation, or “FireTech”, to seek new, innovative Earth system observation capabilities to predict and manage wildfires and their impacts.

NASA's Wildfire Monitoring and Protection Technology Webinar

Fires can't start in space because there is no oxygen in a vacuum. However, fires can still start on spacecraft, and they behave much differently in microgravity. Fire is a major concern in space travel since there are no firefighters or escape routes. Whether in space or on Earth, effective fire response needs versatile tools for prevention, detection, control, and personal safety.

Proposal Research Topics

This program element seeks ideas that span observation and information system technologies that:

  • Enhance capabilities of existing science instruments needed for monitoring prefire, active-fire, and post-fire environments;
  • Reduce mass and power of instruments for accommodation by next-generation small spacecraft and aerial platforms;
  • Enable unprecedented measurements from multiple vantage points through model-directed, coordinated observations using autonomous tasking;
  • Address computational challenges for modeling and for data acquisition, fusion, and processing in a real-time environment;
  • Facilitate machine learning and artificial intelligence to create new data products needed for wildfire management and for management of the constellation of observing platforms;
  • Enable the seamless exchange of information between spaceborne, airborne, and in situ assets.

    • Future Phases

    Check out an overview of each competition phase below - complete rules for each phase will be released as the competition progresses.

    Documents

    Let’s Get Started.

    To apply or join the program, please submit an application.