FireBIRD is an earth observation mission with the primary goal of monitoring fires from space. It involves the detection and measurement of so-called high-temperature events and the provision of remote sensing science data for research at DLR and for external partners.

It is organized as a research and development project under the auspices of DLR’s Aerospace Research and Technology program division with solely science goals, and all aspects of the mission are under DLR control.

The space segment consists of the two satellites TET-1 (Technology Experiment Carrier) and BIROS (Berlin InfraRed Optical System). The TET-1 satellite has been circling Earth in a polar orbit since July 2012 and has successfully concluded the first part of its mission as a technology testing platform. The BIROS satellite has the same bus as TET-1, but is additionally equipped with a propulsion system for active attitude and orbit control. BIROS was launched on 22 June 2016 at 05:55 CEST. The main payload for both satellites is a multispectral camera system.