On 3 May 2026, four thermal-imaging CubeSats lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, entering orbit as the Hellenic Fire System, the world’s first satellite constellation built exclusively to detect and track wildfires across an entire country. The constellation, developed by Munich-based OroraTech, was commissioned by the Greek Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence in partnership with the Hellenic Space Center and the European Space Agency (ESA), and is funded through the EU’s NextGenerationEU programme under Greece’s national recovery plan.
A System Built Around Sovereign, Continuous Coverage
Each of the four satellites is based on an 8U CubeSat platform and carries two infrared imagers operating in the midwave and longwave infrared spectral bands. Together, they provide systematic thermal coverage across all Greek territory, enabling authorities to detect active hotspots as small as 4 by 4 metres with detection latency measured in minutes. A dedicated ground station located in Greece feeds data directly into OroraTech’s Wildfire Solution platform, which is integrated into the country’s emergency services infrastructure and delivers near real-time situational awareness to the Hellenic Fire Service.
The constellation is the second group of operational satellites to fly under the Greek National Small Satellite Programme, following the launch of two ICEYE radar satellites at the end of 2025. The programme will ultimately comprise 13 operational satellites across four mission types, building out a sovereign Earth observation capability for Greece over the coming years.
The Wildfire Backdrop Driving the Investment
The scale of the threat underpinning this deployment is substantial. According to the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, 2025 was the EU’s worst wildfire season since modern recordkeeping began, with over 1 million hectares burned across member states, nearly double the long-term average. Greece recorded approximately 49,000 hectares burned in 2025 across 235 mapped fires, with a significant share falling inside Natura 2000 protected areas. The country’s geography, mountainous terrain, more than 6,000 islands, and limited connectivity in remote regions, has historically constrained ground-based fire detection, making satellite-based monitoring a practical necessity rather than a premium add-on.
The Hellenic Fire System was developed at a contract value of €20 million, according to earlier project announcements, and is being implemented within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0”, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility, a core instrument of the EU’s NextGenerationEU programme.
How the Detection Architecture Works
OroraTech’s platform integrates thermal data from both proprietary and public satellite sources into a unified wildfire intelligence service. The Hellenic Fire System CubeSats are designed to address one of the most persistent gaps in traditional wildfire monitoring: coverage reliability during peak burn periods, typically mid-afternoon, when surface winds intensify and fires spread most rapidly.
Before shipment to California, the four satellites underwent magnetic cleaning at ESA’s facility in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, to remove residual magnetic fields that could interfere with on-board attitude control systems. Integration onto the Falcon 9 was handled by Exolaunch, a German launch services provider specialising in small satellite deployment. The constellation is currently in a commissioning phase, with full operational service expected within the coming months.
Government and Agency Framing
The Greek government has positioned this deployment as part of a broader integration of space-based capabilities into national civil protection infrastructure. The Ministry of Digital Governance, which coordinates digital transformation across public administration, is responsible for delivering data from the system to operational fire services.
ESA’s involvement goes beyond technical support. The agency is managing the implementation framework under the Greek National Satellite Space Project (Small-Satellites, Measure ID 16855), providing the procurement structure, technical oversight, and international coordination that underpins the programme. The wider national initiative reflects ESA’s strategy of using member state recovery funding to anchor sovereign space capability at the national level, an approach that could serve as a reference model for other EU countries facing similar climate-related monitoring needs.
Satellite Wildfire Detection: A Rapidly Developing Field
The Hellenic Fire System enters service at a moment of considerable activity in satellite-based wildfire intelligence. In 2024, as Kurrant reported, Google partnered with the Earth Fire Alliance, Muon Space, and the Environmental Defense Fund to launch FireSat, a constellation targeting detection of fires as small as 5 by 5 metres within 20 minutes. The Hellenic Fire System operates on a comparable resolution threshold but is purpose-built for national sovereign deployment rather than global commercial service, a distinction that highlights the growing bifurcation in the market between nationally commissioned infrastructure and multi-stakeholder commercial constellations.
OroraTech, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Munich, operates across North America, South America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. The company opened a dedicated office in Athens during the development phase of the Hellenic Fire System project, deepening its operational presence in the region ahead of commissioning.
