DLR's satellite BIRD is intended to detect high temperature events such as forest fires, volcanic activity as well as burning oil wells and coal seams. The performance of these newly developped bi-spectral infrared array sensors and other components are beeing evaluated for these tasks. BIRD is considered to be a technology satellite and was launched as a "piggy-back" payload with an Indian PSLV launcher into a sun-synchronous orbit. The German Space Operations Center at Oberpfaffenhofen monitors and controls the 3-axis-stabilized satellite, which is commanded from the ground station at Weilheim. The scientific data is received at Neustrelitz and directly processed into scientific products. The originally planned mission duration of approximately one year is already overwhelmed for several years, because of the perfect subsystems of the satellite.
Originally planned 1.5 yearsstill active
Further informationen about BIRD can be found on the homepage of DLR Berlin-Adlershof.