Suitcase-sized satellites are scanning for Greek wildfires in a global first

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — In the searing Mediterranean summer, wildfires turn dangerous in minutes.

Greece has learned that at a terrible cost. In 2018, a blaze east of Athens moved with ferocious speed, killing more than 100 people. Five years later, a massive fire tore through a remote nature reserve; it was the largest wildfire ever recorded in the European Union.

Greece is looking to the heavens for help, with a dedicated satellite constellation that monitors for fires. It's a model for the continent as Europe races toward broader independence in space technology.

Four satellites, each smaller than a piece of carry-on luggage, were launched into low orbit in May. That made Greece the first nation in the world to integrate a dedicated satellite array into its national firefighting system.

Built by German company OroraTech, the satellites carry thermal sensors designed to flag new blazes as small as four meters (13 feet) wide, beating traditional satellites that can only spot fires the size of a cruise ship.

As Europe struggles with its latest blistering heatwave, the high temperatures foreshadow the wildfire season. Fires pose a unique challenge in Greece with its tinder-dry mountainous mainland and over 100 inhabited islands.

If a fire ignites, AI-processed satellite data is sent as an alert to commanders with the location, size and intensity already calculated. If multiple fires are burning at once, real-time data is crucial to determining response.

“For example, if you have 10 fires all over Greece and the fire radiative power is lower in some cases, you will not give priority to those ignitions; you will give priority to other ones,” Fire Service Col. Zisoula Ntasiou, vice president of the International Association of Fire and Rescue Services, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Thermal sensors also pick up solar panels, hot factory roofs and sunbaked rock faces, but AI models are built to filter out those false alarms before alerts reach emergency services, according to officials involved in the program.

Greece recorded its hottest summer on record in 2024 and its third-hottest last year.

“The global temperature is going up. That causes fires to change in intensity and ferocity,” Ioannis Lantouris, head of OroraTech’s Greek operations, told the AP. “Our models have to change and adjust to that. They have to be faster. They have to be more precise.”

Lantouris spoke in his office in Athens, while engineers worked on fire behavior models. Near their desks, they keep a life-sized replica of the satellite.

Thermal satellites add a layer of detection to drones and ground sensors, and Greece has expanded both since the 2018 disaster forced an overhaul of wildfire response. The constellation helps fill coverage gaps from international satellites, spot fires in remote terrain and build more detailed models of fire behavior.

Multiple countries use thermal satellites but Greece is the first to fully integrate them into its firefighting system. The satellites themselves mark an early stage of a broader Europe-backed effort.

Greece is building a wider observation network with three European companies, combining thermal satellites, radar satellites capable of seeing through clouds and smoke, and optical satellites that capture highly detailed imagery of the ground.

That network carries a total price tag of 200 million euros ($227 million) and is funded by the EU. Falling costs for launch and manufacturing have made the expansion possible. Additional satellite deployments are planned by the end of the year.

Planners in Athens and across Europe already envision applying the same kind of network far beyond fire detection. Future systems will support border surveillance, crop management, disaster response and heat-wave planning.

One priority is identifying urban “heat islands,” allowing authorities to target cooling centers and emergency services more effectively.

The ambitions follow a strategic shift to seek greater technological independence. Rattled by Russia’s war in Ukraine and strained trans-Atlantic ties, European governments are reducing dependence on foreign technology.

Space infrastructure has become a pillar of that effort.

Greece’s satellite network is part of a European push linking launch vehicles, navigation systems, Earth observation networks and secure communications into a more sovereign technological ecosystem.

The goal, officials say, is to move beyond satellite imagery as a passive tool and develop near-real-time decision systems that help governments manage crises as they happen.

The blazing Greek summer will offer an initial test.

Michel Farah, an OroraTech software engineer, works on a replica of a wildfire-detection satellite at the company's facilities in Athens, Greece, on Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Fire Service Col. Zisoula Ntasiou, vice president of the International Association of Fire and Rescue Services, poses for a portrait in Athens, Greece, on Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A replica of an OroraTech wildfire-detection satellite is displayed at the company's facilities in Athens, Greece, on Thursday, June 18, 2026, as Greece integrates a new constellation of wildfire-detection satellites into its national firefighting system. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

FILE - Fire burns near the village of Galataki as authorities evacuate the place near Corinth, Greece, July 22, 2020.(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris, File)

Ioannis Lantounis, head of OroraTech's Greek operations, stands inside the company's Athens office on Thursday, June 18, 2026, as Greece integrates a new constellation of wildfire-detection satellites into its national firefighting system. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A father holds the hand of his daughter dressed as a fairy. A 24-year-old man in a pilot uniform stares proudly at the camera. A family embraces on a soccer field.

They are among the images posted by relatives within Venezuela and abroad desperately searching for their missing loved ones following two powerful, back-to-back earthquakes on Wednesday evening.

Health Minister Carlos Alvarado said late Thursday that the death toll had risen to around 235, with at least 4,300 people injured. The number of casualties is expected to climb after the 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes that caused widespread damage and were among the strongest to strike Venezuela in more than a century.

With communication patchy, social media and online registries have become a crucial tool for many Venezuelans seeking information and resources beyond sparse government statistics. Independent online registries documenting up to 40,000 people missing far surpass the official government account.

While some rushed to search beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings, others created digital flyers on WhatsApp, Facebook and X with their relatives’ details.

Among them was Vanesa Marcano, 31, who posted photos from Madrid of her uncle and aunt, who live in La Guaira state, north of the capital Caracas, which suffered some of the heaviest damage and casualties.

Marcano posted the images in the hopes that they were only unreachable due to damaged communication lines. Her uncle’s daughter and his 7-year-old grandson were visiting from the United States and also are missing.

“It’s a feeling of impotence and uncertainty,” Marcano said by phone. “I know you must stay calm and focus on the actions you can take. But it’s very easy to fall into despair.”

Jhoyser Concalves, a Venezuelan from the northern coastal city of Catia La Mar, was talking to his partner and her daughter just minutes before the shaking. It was the last he heard from them.

When the earthquake stopped, Concalves ran out of his house to their apartment building, where they lived on the sixth floor. There was only debris and people desperately trying to rescue neighbors from the rubble.

Concalves posted a flyer reading “MISSING” on X and Facebook in a desperate attempt to find them.

“They are pulling people out of the building alive. So I still have hope that they are in there alive,” he said.

The search was complicated by the country's restrictions on social media and messaging platforms.

On Thursday, the U.N. human rights mission in Venezuela issued a statement calling on the government to lift local restrictions on social media and saying timely access to reliable information can save lives.

Sites including X and messaging app Signal were blocked in August 2024 by then-President Nicolás Maduro in an attempt to suppress communication among those who rejected his claim of victory in the presidential election. Former Vice President Delcy Rodríguez became the acting president in January after the U.S. captured and removed Maduro from power.

Shortly after the U.N.’s request Thursday, Venezuelans in the country were able to access X.

Outside the country, such sites have become even more important for many of the 8 million people who have migrated from Venezuela in recent years and were unable to check on their loved ones.

Elibel Tovar Lanas, 38, was planning to travel Saturday from Chile, where he has lived for 23 years, for the first visit in a decade with his 70-year-old father, who lives in Brazil but was in La Guaira for business. Lanas has not heard from his dad, Félix Ramón Tovar Hernández.

“I feel powerless because I don’t know how this is affecting him: the shock, the decisions he’s having to make, whether he is physically okay, or even whether he is still alive,” said Lanas, who registered his father on the website for the missing.

“Being in Chile makes it very difficult to get information, and everything we see feels confusing,” Lanas said via WhatsApp.

In Madrid, Marcano said she was trying to stay calm for the sake of her 1-year-old daughter.

“You keep hoping someone will organize a fundraiser or some kind of initiative where you can help,” Marcano said. “But the truth is, from far away, there is very little you can do.”

Hughes reported from Rio de Janeiro.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Residents search through the rubble of a building that collapsed in an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

A man looks at covered bodies in front of a damaged building the day after earthquakes and several aftershocks struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)

Neighbors carry a man rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building the day after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)

Damaged buildings stand in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, a day after an earthquake and several aftershocks struck the city, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jonathan Lanza)

Rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)