In 2019 the Canadian Space Agency initiated development of a dedicated wildfire monitoring satellite (WildFireSat) mission. The intent of this mission is to support operational wildfire management, smoke and air quality forecasting, and wildfire carbon emissions reporting. In order to deliver the mission objectives, it was necessary to identify the technical and operational challenges which have prevented broad exploitation of Earth Observation (EO) in Canadian wildfire management and to address these challenges in the mission design. In this study we emphasize the first objective by documenting the results of wildfire management end-user engagement activities which were used to identify the key Fire Management Functionalities (FMFs) required for an Earth Observation wildfire monitoring system. These FMFs are then used to define the User Requirements for the Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring System (CWFMS) which are refined here for the WildFireSat mission. The User Requirements are divided into Observational, Measurement, and Precision requirements and form the foundation for the design of the WildFireSat mission (currently in Phase-A, summer 2020).

After suffering the failure of its magnetometer and all torque rods, the NEOSSat microsatellite has recovered operations through the use of novel attitude determination and control algorithms that utilize a minimal sensor and actuator suite. Following recovery, NEOSSat has regained the performance necessary to accomplish its near-earth object space surveillance mission with only a modest duty cycle reduction and adjustments to spacecraft operation planning. This paper provides a description of NEOSSat, its hardware failures, and discusses the development and implementation of the innovative flight software upgrades that facilitated its recovery. The paper expands the body of knowledge in GPS-based attitude determination and momentum management strategies for satellites.

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