The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Students build fire-sensing satellite in NASA contest
With the support of NASA, a group of Cal Poly Pomona students is set to launch a miniature satellite designed to scan and identify wildfires from miles away.
Named Bronco Ember, the miniature satellite can detect, track and log coordinates and send those to fire agencies to help stop a wildfire before it spreads.
The university’s Bronco Space Club is one of three groups and the only undergraduate program selected to advance in the inaugural NASA Techleap Challenge, earning $500,000 over the course of the yearlong competition.
Using an infrared camera, students developed a Cubesat, a satellite about half the size of a loaf of bread and equipped with artificial intelligence to alert when fire is detected.
The 3-pound satellite includes a camera and other equipment fitted into a container the size of “a slim shoe box,” according to a Cal Poly Pomona news release.
After a weather delay last week, Bronco Ember is scheduled to launch in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this week on a balloon rising about 18.5 miles above Earth for about eight hours. NASA is flying in team members for the launch.
After the launch, the team will drive to various locations and light small fires, waiting for their satellite to send coordinates for any flames it detects, according to the university.
The project is the culmination of months of long nights navigating regular coursework and overcoming logistical roadblocks, Cal Poly Pomona graduate Cristian Rodriguez said.
“This was really just an incredible learning experience for myself, for everybody,” Rodriguez, 25, the project’s principal investigator, said last week by phone. “They [NASA] believed in us, we believed in ourselves and now we’re looking to fly next week.”
It all began last summer when the student group pitched its idea to NASA as a way to tackle a realworld issue affecting where they live — the increase in wildfires throughout Southern California.
“We asked ourselves, ‘What would be cool to do?’ and we
were, like, ‘We’re in Southern California and there are a lot of wildfires, so maybe we should build a house fire detection device,’ ” Rodriguez said, recounting conversations with team members. “That’s when a light bulb lit up.”
After advancing in the competition and winning an initial $200,000 in October, the group had just 10 months to showcase and finish its satellite for NASA.
Rodriguez, who was living in Northern California, moved to Pomona to work on the satellite with other teammates.
Rodriguez said 70% of classes were in person, so some students were still working from home, making it a challenge to navigate everyone’s schedules.
During a test run of Bronco Ember, the team lit a controlled fire on campus and camped on a hill in Diamond Bar. There, the group saw a glowing shape via their camera resembling the fire a mile away.
“After that, we knew how special this project could be and what it would mean to have this all come together,” said senior Zachary Gaines, 21, who is the project lead. “Everyone knows someone directly impacted by fires, so by giving students the chance to affect their community, the team rallied around this.”
For Rodriguez, he hopes the project’s use of small satellite technology can help inspire other projects and create more real world solutions.
“We hope it’s just the start of something bigger,” Rodriguez said. “The sky really is the limit.”
Other members of the Bronco Ember team are:
• Controls: Julian Garcia (lead), Enrique Navas and Michael Quach.
• Mechanisms: Scott Johnson (lead), Chase Pelliterri (co-lead), Jonathan Camilleri, Nick Shewchuk, Federico Perez and Juan Carlos Macias.
• Electronics: Tyler Boardman (lead) and Derek Mata.
• Software: Max Wilder Smith (lead), Thang Nguyen (co-lead) and Clayton Clark.
• Systems: Katie Ruiz (lead), Ethan Lo, Joshua Cepeda, Tyler Kovacs and Granville Goza.
• Integration and testing: Jacqueline Llamas (lead) and Matthew Mcdougall.