Dr Ignacio Zuleta, Chief Technology and Product Officer at OroraTech, explains how its thermal-first satellite constellation is transforming wildfire detection, response speed and operational intelligence globally.
Firstly, please introduce yourself and your background.
I am Dr Ignacio Zuleta, serving as the Chief Technology and Product Officer at OroraTech. My past experience spans remote sensing, systems engineering and product development around distributed novel scientific measurements. Throughout my career, I have focused on turning advanced space-based technologies into operational data products that attempt to solve real-world problems.
What knowledge and experience do you bring to your role at OroraTech?
I bring a combination of deep technical curiosity and systems, along with a product thinking mindset. That means not just building sensors or satellites but also spending a lot of time envisioning the user experience and the product’s ultimate operational value proposition. At OroraTech, that means continuously working to translate thermal anomalies that we see from space into trustworthy and abundant decision-making support for responders and risk managers.
OroraTech achieved a major milestone when it launched the world’s first dedicated wildfire constellation (OTC-P1). Can you explain what this means for wildfire detection?
It marks the shift from opportunistic observation based on publicly available data to monitoring with a dedicated mission and instrument. Our data is designed to be consistently available with low latency, at times of day when other missions are unavailable.
This constellation also fills the “Afternoon Gap” – the period of peak burn time in the United States when traditional public satellite coverage is non-existent. By delivering frequent, reliable observations during these critical hours, it enables faster fire spread modelling and more accurate burned area assessments, reducing the need for manual mapping and giving responders more time to act.
Ultimately, this data is meant to support responders first and foremost, which is why we fly our first constellation specifically in this time gap. Using our data, firefighters across the United States and the world can detect fires as they break, prevent them before they spread and save millions of dollars in unnecessary damage.
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