These new satellites are designed to spot wildfires before they spread

When a grass fire started by the side of an Oregon road last summer, it covered just half an acre—too small to show up on typical satellites. But it was spotted by a new prototype from FireSat, a satellite program designed specifically to detect wildfires. Fire agencies weren’t using the system at the time, but once fully operational, it could send alerts before fires spiral out of control. Now, with a $26 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund that builds on earlier support from Google.org...