Now you can add wildfire detection to the list. Satellites have observed wildfires from space for decades, but a new initiative partially funded by Google's philanthropic arm aims to deploy more than 50 small satellites in low-Earth orbit to pinpoint flare-ups as small as a classroom anywhere in the world.

AI-based wildfire smoke sensors installed around the South Bay that can "discern from a barbecue, or a chimney, or a wildfire." New satellites are also being used to detect wildfires as small as the size of a classroom.