The University of Alberta will lead a project to design, build and launch Ex-Alta 2, a new cube satellite to help combat forest fires, thanks to funding of $250,000 from the Canadian Space Agency.
“The data we collect will tell first responders how to allocate firefighting resources so they can better prevent disasters like the one we saw in Fort McMurray,” said Callie Lissinna, a U of A mechanical engineering student and project manager for the AlbertaSat group of science and engineering students that will participate in the project.
“Some students on the team have friends and family who were affected by the fire, and it was part of the personal motivation and feeling of communal loss that led to our decision to give back to the community this way.”
The announcement comes following the success of AlbertaSat’s first cube satellite, Ex-Alta 1, which launched last year and is now in orbit monitoring space weather.
Continue reading at University of Alberta.
Image via University of Alberta.