OzFuel Pre-Phase A Study
Creators: name: Younes, Nicolás
name: Yebra, Marta
name: Sharp, Robert
name: Lee, Jia-Urnn
name: Hughes, Dale
name: Gilbert, James
name: Grigoriev, Alexey
name: Mathew, Joice
name: Griffin, Douglas
name: Barraclough, Simon
Publisher: name: ANU Institute for Space
Year: 2021
Subjects: remote sensing
bushfire, wildfire
satellite
eucalypt
forest
fuel moisture content (FMC)
short-wave infrared
fuel
earth observation
bushfire risk
pathfinder satellite mission
monitoring

description: This document presents the results of a Pre-Phase A study for the OzFuel bushfire fuel monitoring mission in accordance with NASA system engineering standards. The OzFuel Pre-Phase A Study (Australian Forest Fuel Monitoring from Space) report was developed by the Australian National University (ANU) Institute for Space for Geoscience Australia (GA) and CSIRO in support of their contribution to Australia’s Satellite Cross-Calibration Radiometer (SCR) and AquaWatch missions (UNSW Canberra Space, 2021). The OzFuel study conceptualises a multispectral bushfire fuel monitoring satellite mission to fulfil two major goals:  To launch a dedicated science and research mission to mitigate the risk of future catastrophic bushfires; and  To deliver an Australian designed and built pathfinder mission to de-risk the SCR program. Key outcomes of the OzFuel mission are:  Australian capability enables the forward-looking development of a fully operational satellite constellation for bushfire prevention, mitigation and resilience.  ANU expertise in global fuel hazard spatial data augments international commercial and government fire detection initiatives.  Space-proven Australian detector technology becomes available for national and commercial small satellite missions. This report comprises two parts:  Part 1: OzFuel Mission Requirements developed by Nicolas Younes and Marta Yebra from the ANU Fenner School of Environment &amp; Society. The report introduces the OzFuel mission, the need for a dedicated fuel monitoring mission, and the remote sensing requirements for a pathfinder mission.  Part 2: OzFuel Technical Overview developed by Rob Sharp from the ANU Advanced Instrumentation &amp; Technology Centre. The overview outlines the technical design and payload options for the OzFuel-1mission. The climate crisis over the past decade culminated in the unprecedented 2019/2020 Australian bushfire conditions that were more catastrophic than expected or modelled. The risk of larger and more frequent mega-fires is only going to increase in future years. Allocating further ground resources to suppress fires is extremely costly and dangerous, and needs to be augmented with more effective prediction, prevention and mitigation strategies before an unforeseen ignition event burns out of control. One of the most crucial aspects of fire prevention is understanding vegetative fuel state. The 2020 Royal Commission into National Natural Disasters highlights the need for whole-of-continent visibility of vegetative fuel state – how much fuel there is and how dry it is. Australia relies on foreign satellite data which is not optimised for measuring our unique bush landscape. The growing need forsovereign satellites to remotely sense Australia’s unique vegetation has been supported by recommendations from government, agencies, industry and research institutions.