9.23.2026
MyRadar Earns XPRIZE Wildfire Recognition for Commercially Viable Space-Based Wildfire Detection
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
XPRIZE Wildfire Awards $3.5M to Innovators Advancing Wildfire Detection and Response
Global Competition Recognizes Breakthrough Progress in Technologies Designed to Detect and Address Wildfires at Their Earliest, Most Controllable Stage
NEW YORK, September 23, 2026 – XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, today announced awardees across both tracks of XPRIZE Wildfire, an $11 million global competition launched in 2023 to accelerate innovation in firefighting technologies. The awardees were announced during the XPRIZE Wildfire Awardee Ceremony held at the New York City Fire Museum.
XPRIZE Wildfire was designed to develop new technologies to help prevent destructive wildfires, enabling humanity and beneficial wildfires to safely coexist. The competition challenged teams across two complementary tracks, Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence and Autonomous Wildfire Response. Together, teams within the two tracks aimed to prove that speed, accuracy and autonomy can transform how wildfires are detected and addressed at the incipient stage, their earliest, most controllable stage, to shorten the time between detection and rapid response, inform management practices and minimize negative impacts.
“Destructive wildfires are becoming more extreme, costly and difficult to manage, making faster, more effective approaches increasingly urgent,” said Andrea Santy, XPRIZE Wildfire Executive Program Director. “These teams pushed the boundaries of what is possible today, demonstrating meaningful advances in wildfire detection and response while helping identify where continued innovation is needed to move these technologies toward real-world deployment at scale.”
Following rigorous Finals Testing under real-world conditions, XPRIZE is recognizing teams for standout achievements that demonstrate meaningful progress toward that goal:
Track A: Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence
Track A challenged teams to utilize space-based Earth Observation data synthesized with artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect, characterize and report wildfires faster and more accurately across vast landscapes.
XPRIZE awarded $1.05 million across five Track A teams, recognizing meaningful advances in space-based wildfire detection and intelligence. Judges recognized progress in multi-sensor system integration, detection methodology, commercial readiness, operational capabilities, and innovative algorithms. The results also helped identify key technical gaps that must be addressed to enable reliable, real-time wildfire detection from space.
- Special Recognition, Commercial Viability, $100,000: MyRadar
As a commercially mature team, MyRadar utilized upstream satellite acquisition and demonstrated spatial precision.
“Minderoo Foundation and XPRIZE share a commitment to driving the innovation needed to confront the growing threat of destructive wildfires,” said Andrew Forrest, AO, PhD, Co-Founder, Minderoo Foundation. “Through XPRIZE Wildfire, we have seen what is possible when ambitious ideas, global expertise and rigorous testing come together around one of the world’s most urgent challenges. This work is critical to protecting communities and ecosystems, and we are proud to continue building on the progress made through the competition.”
Track B: Autonomous Wildfire Response
In June 2026, Autonomous Wildfire Response competitors put their solutions to the test in the Alaskan wilderness. Teams were challenged to autonomously detect and completely suppress a high-risk fire within 10 minutes of ignition across 1,000 km² of challenging terrain, without disturbing nearby decoy fires.
The XPRIZE Wildfire Judging Panel awarded $2.5 million across three Track B Finalist teams, recognizing distinct breakthroughs across the autonomous wildfire response cycle.
“Destructive wildfires are a complex and growing global challenge that demands continued innovation and collaboration,” said Robert Head, Senior Vice President, Lockheed Martin Government Affairs. “At Lockheed Martin, we see tremendous potential in applying advanced technologies and expertise from aerospace and defense to help address challenges here on the ground. The progress demonstrated through this competition underscores how technologies such as advanced sensing, autonomy and artificial intelligence can help strengthen wildfire response and accelerate emerging capabilities.”
Together, the results across both tracks demonstrate breakthrough progress in how wildfires can be autonomously detected and addressed at the incipient stage. This final milestone demonstrates meaningful progress toward XPRIZE Wildfire’s goal of a future where emerging fires can be identified and addressed faster — before they become large-scale disasters — while also helping define the work still needed to move these technologies toward broader real-world deployment.
“Wildfire safety requires us to continually look for new ways to detect threats earlier and respond faster,” said Sumeet Singh, Pacific Gas and Electric Company Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, Energy Delivery. “The progress demonstrated through XPRIZE Wildfire shows the potential for emerging technologies to give responders better information, greater awareness and new tools to act when fires are still at their most controllable.”
“The progress demonstrated through XPRIZE Wildfire underscores both the urgency of this challenge and the importance of continuing to invest in innovative, practical solutions,” said Genny Biggs, Program Director of the Wildfire Resilience Initiative at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. “These teams have helped advance our understanding of what is possible in space-based wildfire detection today, while also identifying the technical gaps that must be addressed to deliver faster, more actionable intelligence to those on the ground.”
From Competition to Real-World Impact
The conclusion of XPRIZE Wildfire marks a major milestone, but not the end of the work. The competition will now move into a 12- to 15-month Impact Phase focused on helping translate promising technologies from both tracks into durable, deployable solutions for real-world wildfire management.
Through the Impact Phase, XPRIZE aims to build on the competition’s momentum and accelerate adoption, investment and collaboration so emerging technologies can strengthen how wildfires are detected, managed and addressed before they become destructive.
XPRIZE Wildfire is offered in partnership with Co-Title Sponsors Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Presenting Sponsor and Co-Designer of XPRIZE Space-Based Wildfire Detection and Intelligence Track Minderoo Foundation, Accurate Detection Intelligence Bonus Prize Sponsor Lockheed Martin and Supporting Sponsors Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Costa Navarino, American Family Insurance, Fairfax Financial, the Roddenberry Foundation, and individual benefactors. PG&E is the lead sponsor of the Impact Phase.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE is the recognized global leader in designing and executing large-scale competitions to solve humanity’s greatest challenges. For over 30 years, our unique model has democratized crowd-sourced innovation and scientifically scalable solutions that accelerate a more equitable and abundant future. Donate, learn more, and co-architect a world of abundance with us at xprize.org.
About Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit Moore.org or follow @MooreFound.
About PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com and www.pge.com/about/newsroom.
About Minderoo Foundation
Minderoo Foundation is one of Australasia’s largest philanthropies, with AUD$2.6 billion funds invested in philanthropic causes. These causes range from reducing the harm caused by fire and flood, eliminating childhood cancer to improving early childhood education, ending modern slavery and driving accountability in and responsibility for global overfishing, plastic pollution, global warming and the tech ecosystem. Visit minderoo.org or follow @minderoo.
About Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is a global defense technology company driving innovation and advancing scientific discovery. Our all-domain mission solutions and 21st Century Security® vision accelerate the delivery of transformative technologies to ensure those we serve always stay ahead of ready. More information at Lockheedmartin.com.
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