MEPhI scientists, together with Moscow schoolchildren, have developed a satellite capable of tracking forest fires

Young scientists, students of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, as well as Moscow schoolchildren, have developed the Svyatobor-1 nanosatellite, which is capable of tracking forest fires and other natural disasters as part of the Planet Watchman project.

This project was created in order to unite schoolchildren and students who are interested in space and are engaged in the development of spacecraft. That is why schoolchildren from the capital also joined the study: one of the participants in the project was an eleventh-grader from Moscow school No. 2083, Uliana Frantsuzova.

According to the developers of the satellite, to fulfill its mission, it is equipped with a thermal imaging camera that allows you to quickly determine where fires or other thermal anomalies occur on the surface of the planet. Also, a color camera is installed on the device, which is capable of shooting identified fires and other objects with a resolution of 15-17 meters per pixel (depending on the height of the orbit).

At the moment, the operation of the Svyatobor-1 nanosatellite has already been successfully tested. Clear photographs of both the visible and far infrared ranges were obtained. In the near future, researchers will have to adjust the optics to obtain the most detailed images, as well as install an updated version of the plasma engine. By the way, Ulyana Frantsuzova is working on optimizing the magnetic system of the plasma engine, which is doing her scientific work in the MEPhI laboratory.

Mona Platonov.

Photo NRNU MEPhI