Hellenic Fire System achieves first light
The Hellenic Fire System has returned its first image, marking an important milestone in Greece's future national space-based wildfire monitoring capability.
Launched at the beginning of May, the Hellenic Fire System comprises four CubeSats, each carrying two infrared imagers operating in the midwave and longwave infrared spectral bands to detect active fires, identify thermal anomalies and assess fire radiative intensity over Greece and other areas of interest.
The Hellenic Fire System was developed under the Greek National Small Satellite Programme. Funded by Greece through the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, the programme is the result of cooperation between the Greek government and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Ultimately, the Greek National Small Satellite Programme will comprise 13 satellites organised into different groups based on their instruments and mission objectives.
Following the launch of two ICEYE radar satellites at the end of last year, the Hellenic Fire System, developed by OroraTech, is the second operational Earth observation mission developed under the programme.
The Hellenic Fire System captured its first thermal image over Greece, displayed below, after just two weeks of instrument calibration.
It reveals the thermal signature of the Athens metropolitan as well as the islands of Andros, Tinos, Skyros, Chios, Kea and Kythnos. The image also captures thermal patterns across the Aegean Sea, highlighting the instrument's ability to observe both land and maritime thermal phenomena.
The image demonstrates the successful performance of the satellite and its thermal infrared instrument, paving the way for the system's future operational services.
Martin Langer, CEO of OroraTech, said, “Achieving first light so quickly demonstrates the maturity of our technology and the exceptional work of our engineering teams. We have spent years refining thermal sensing systems that deliver both unmatched image quality and operational performance. This milestone shows our ability to rapidly bring sophisticated space assets into service while providing the high-quality thermal data needed for wildfire detection, environmental monitoring, and scientific research.”
The successful acquisition confirms the readiness of the satellite's thermal sensing payload, which has been designed to deliver accurate land-surface temperature measurements and rapid wildfire detection from low Earth orbit through frequent revisit times and low-latency data delivery.
Once fully operational, the Hellenic Fire System will scan the entirety of Greece twice each day, providing continuous thermal monitoring to support wildfire detection, emergency response and environmental monitoring. Beyond operational services, the mission will generate valuable land-surface temperature data to support scientific research into climate and environmental change across the Mediterranean region.
Svein Lokas, ESA’s Project Manager for the Greek national missions, said, “Europe is experiencing more frequent and more destructive wildfires, and Greece is particularly prone so we are delighted to see the Hellenic Fire System achieve first light, marking an important milestone on the path towards full operational capability.
“This achievement also highlights the strength of the collaboration between ESA, the Greek authorities and European industry in delivering advanced Earth observation solutions that help address some of today's most pressing societal challenges.”
