Kinéis is a French company launched in Toulouse in 2018 by the company Collecte Localization Satellites (CLS) with the support of CNES (National Center for Space Studies). It operates in the field of satellites and the Internet of Things (IoT). The technology it is developing will also be a new weapon of formidable effectiveness in the management of forest fires.
With the upheaval in precipitation patterns due to global warming, certain areas of the world are affected by harmful droughts. These episodes of water deficit are unfortunately very fertile ground for the increase in the frequency and power of devastating fires. Certain regions of the world (Australia, Western American states, Canada, Brazil or Mediterranean regions) are increasingly seriously threatened by this scourge.
New solutions are emerging to improve forest fire management, such as AI surveillance. Kineis, however, plays on another field. By June, the company will deploy a constellation of 25 satellites, which will connect to the ground with a multitude of objects, including fire detection beacons.
A constellation serving the Earth
In addition to opening up numerous possibilities in terms of IoT, the Kinéis project will effectively serve environmental monitoring on a planetary scale. Thanks to a large network of beacons scattered across the forests of several areas of the globe, the system is capable of capturing an abnormal increase in CO2. Too high a level of this gas is often a warning sign of a fire.
Once the information is captured by the beacons, it is retransmitted via the satellite constellation in order to send a signal to the competent authorities in less than ten minutes. A very short period of time, which will therefore allow targeted interventions before the situation gets out of control and the fire turns into a megafire.
Putting into orbit
For all of the 25 satellites (50 kg each) that make up this constellation to be put into orbit, five launches will be necessary. Due to the lack of micro-launchers of French or even European design (ouch, that hurts!), Kinéis therefore turned to the aerospace company Rocket Lab. The latter designed the Electron rocket, operational since 2018; it is therefore this model which was chosen to put the Kinéis satellites into orbit. Hoping that the launches go better than the 41st shot of September!
The very first flight is scheduled to depart between June 10 and July 8 and will depart from New Zealand. It will mark the start of a series of launches that will complete the constellation. By 2030, Kinéis aims to connect several million objects across the globe, in order to support quite varied sectors: energy, logistics, transport or agriculture. All that would have been missing was a launcher Made in France so that the picture is perfect!
Source : Futura Sciences
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