This Earth Day, themed “Our Power, Our Planet,” the question isn’t whether we have solutions - it’s how fast we can act on them. As the team at Earth Day puts it, we already have the tools to create clean, affordable, and abundant energy through solar, wind, and other renewables. Now it’s about commitment and collective action.
At SatVu, we’re proud to support that mission. Our high-resolution thermal data from space provides a new layer of climate intelligence - revealing how human activity shapes the planet’s heat emissions. In doing so, we help communities identify energy inefficiencies, monitor urban heat, and build climate resilience. As part of the space-for-Earth movement, SatVu empowers those leading the transition to renewable energy - 365 days a year.
Seeing the unseen
Thermal data reveals what optical sensors can’t - heat signatures from our infrastructure, cities and environments. Using a medium wave infrared sensor, we’re able to collect high resolution thermal images of:
With the help of these images, decision-makers and leaders across the world can monitor, analyse and adapt their climate resilient measures to make sure they are delivering the impacts we’re striving for.
Space for Earth
As part of the space-for-Earth solutions sector, we’re putting the power of space data into the hands of people driving climate action. Read on to learn more about what SatVu high-res thermal data can do for those targeting sustainability efforts.
Ensuring our energy sources are working as efficiently as possible is crucial, if we’re to fulfil the Earth Day mission to triple renewable generation by 2030. With space-based EO, decision-makers can access key insights to help with the design, planning, and implementation of renewable projects. For example, planners can use SatVu’s data to make environmental impact assessments, identifying areas where renewable energy might be best harnessed. Or monitor snow, ice and river runoff when looking for a site to build a hydroelectric dam.
Surveying sunshine - Solar farms
Take the monitoring and management of solar energy farms, for example. As you can see in the Aragorn Solar Project image, HotSat-1 is able to detect heat variations across solar panels, allowing energy providers to detect potential faults on a global scale — and at a far higher frequency and lower cost than current methods (including drone imagery).
Monitoring hot pockets — Urban heat
How does urban heat impact our cities? Across the world, urbanised areas are becoming ‘hot pockets’ - areas which are higher in temperature than those around them. With space-based thermal data, we can observe and monitor the impact of urban heat and extreme heat events over time.
In turn, decision-makers can pinpoint the urban areas most at risk from the impact of rising temperatures to prioritise mitigation, as well as measure the impact of new developments and intervention measures over time. City planners and developers can use this information to identify features that contribute to cooler temperatures, informing their future plans.
This nighttime image of Rome demonstrates clear evidence of the urban heat island effect - just look at the heat signatures emitted from the Vatican, compared to the tree-lined Castel Sant'Angelo.
Seeing through smoke - Wildfires
Our technology offers more than just insight on urban landscapes; with HotSat-1 we’re able to monitor and track changes on a global scale.
For instance, SatVu’s data can ‘see’ at night and through smoke. In environments where wildfires are prolific, like the Northwest Territories of Canada, HotSat-1 can see through the smoke to monitor fires in both the natural and built environment.
The high-resolution thermal data indicates the behaviour of the fire, fire-front, direction of travel, and hotspots to better inform firefighters as they work to suppress it. These insights can also assist policymakers and environmental agencies in the future as they develop new wildfire management and prevention measures. After all, space-based thermal imagery doesn’t just inform the here and now - as with wildfires and other natural disasters, we can use these insights to deal with the urgent problems, and then look to developing preventative measures.
Looking beyond the canopy - Deforestation
From loss of biodiversity and soil erosion, to loss of forest resources and displacement of local communities, deforestation - the clearing of trees from large areas - can have some huge environmental and economic impacts. With the help of HotSat-1, environmental change makers and governmental policymakers can monitor planned deforestation and identify illegal clearing too. With this insight, clear actions can be taken to mitigate the impacts, enforce laws, and inform future policies and regulations.
This thermal image in Ituri, Congo, makes the deforested areas clearly visible to the human eye.
Empowering Earth with environmental intelligence
We’re proud to support a movement that’s prioritising decisive action to save our planet. And proud to assist those on the climate action frontline with insightful, actionable and unbiased environmental intelligence. As we’re reminded on Earth Day 2025 - we already have the solutions, so now it’s time to come together and implement them, for the greater good.
