Currently, detailed 3D maps of vegetation that councils use to plan hazard reduction come from LiDAR flown by aircraft.
Queensland recently spent $6 million on one round of LiDAR mapping across 26 council areas. As a result, councils typically refresh their data every few years.
After Black Summer, the NSW Bushfire Inquiry called for better collection and mapping of data on fire risks and the results of hazard reduction work.
A Western Sydney council Spiral Blue has spoken to maps its tree canopy about once every four years and would like to do it every year.
“Black Summer burned 5.5 million hectares and destroyed 2,448 homes in NSW alone, and fire authorities are warning of a heightened risk again this season,” said Spiral Blue CEO and cofounder Taofiq Huq.
“Some state-wide data on how the bush has grown is more than a decade old. Our satellites are designed to give councils a fresh look at the fuel in the bush behind people’s homes, without paying for a new survey flight each time.”
The national Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for spring 2026 flags increased fire risk across northern and southeastern NSW, south-east Queensland and parts of Victoria, Tasmania, WA, SA and the NT, with a very strong El Niño expected to bring warm, dry conditions.
“Fuel management is one of the ways we can influence how a fire behaves before it starts, but resources are limited and decisions about where and when to intervene matter,” said Professor Marta Yebra, Director of the ANU Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence.
“As climate change alters fire weather and fuel conditions, land managers need information that captures not only where vegetation and fuels are, but also how their condition and flammability change over time.
“Up-to-date information on fuel amount, structure and flammability can help target management efforts where they are most needed and assess whether interventions are achieving their intended outcomes.
Spiral Blue’s LiDAR fires short laser pulses at the ground and times how long each takes to bounce back. That builds a 3D picture of the landscape: how tall and dense the bush is, the shrubs and low branches that act as a “ladder” carrying fire into the treetops, and the shape of the ground underneath.
A single satellite is designed to pass over the same area every 20 days. A full constellation would cover it daily, at detail comparable to aerial surveys. An AI computer on board each satellite sorts the data in orbit before sending it to Earth.
For councils and land managers, that could mean seeing which reserves next to homes have grown thick, checking whether last year’s hazard reduction burn actually worked, and spotting regrowth near power lines, all before summer rather than after.
“Fire prevention starts months before summer, with decisions about where to burn and what to clear,” Mr Huq said.
“Those decisions are only as good as the map in front of you. We want councils working from this season’s map, not one from four years ago.”
From California to southern Europe, wildfires are increasingly hitting during extreme heat, and Mr Huq said the technology was built to be used anywhere.
“Every country with large forests or bushlands has the same problem: big landscapes, old maps and not enough money to fly them often,” he said.
“We’re building this in Sydney, and we want to sell it to the world.”
Spiral Blue has launched 10 of its AI computers into orbit since 2021 and delivered its first LiDAR to UK customer Lodestar Space in 2026. It leads a $3 million federal CRC-P grant project with Macquarie University and four industry partners to take its LiDAR from the lab into orbit. Its first Earth-mapping mission is planned for 2028.
Spiral Blue has also announced an equity crowdfunding raise on Birchal, giving everyday Australians the chance to enter the space race with a business built for a world where climate change is bringing hotter summers and more frequent wildfires. Funds will be used to scale manufacturing and testing in Australia and to sell into the US and Europe.
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