Animal Observations from Space: ICARUS Project Launches

Martin Wikelski is buzzing with excitement. About 18 years ago, he conceived and developed the ICARUS project. And now the observation of animal movements from space is on the verge of launching. What does it feel like to work towards something for nearly two decades and then finally experience the beginning? “It’s like a dream”, says the director at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell on Lake Constance. “You sit there and dream about it for years — and then you think: Wait, this is actually becoming reality, it can’t be! We still can’t quite believe it.” 

The idea behind ICARUS (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space): various animals — such as migratory birds, but also bears or goats — are to be equipped with mini transmitters and observed from space with the help of the International Space Station ISS. Wikelski and his team hope this will shed light on the migration routes of animals across the Earth. 

On one hand, to help protect species — for example by adapting and improving protected zones. On the other hand, to protect people — because animals can also spread pathogens during their migrations. Knowledge of their routes could therefore help prevent, contain, or trace epidemics.

Early Warning System for Disasters

In addition, ICARUS could serve as an early warning system for natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. There have already been indications in the past that animals behave unusually before such events — for instance, becoming restless.

What makes ICARUS special, says Wikelski, is that the data collected by the many transmitters are brought together. By combining all the information, one gains a completely new understanding of life on Earth. “We can measure things in this animal collective that we simply could never see before," says Wikelski. "Ultimately, it is the sixth sense of the animals that we are tapping into.»

Initially, Wikelski had presented his idea to the US space agency NASA — which turned it down. In 2014, the Russian space agency Roscosmos stepped in instead. The Max Planck Society, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and the University of Konstanz are also significantly involved. The German partners finance the development of the technology, while the Russians handle transportation and installation in space.

Last August, the Icarus antenna was installed on the Russian segment of the ISS during an extravehicular activity. A computer system on the station is intended to process the received data. As part of Icarus, researchers plan to observe parrots in Nicaragua near a volcano, tag goats in Italy with transmitters, and use bears as earthquake monitors on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia.

Tens of thousands of animals fitted with transmitters 

Over the coming years, several tens of thousands of animals are to be equipped with the transmitters. These transmit not only an animal's position, but also its acceleration, orientation relative to Earth's magnetic field, ambient temperature, as well as air pressure and humidity.

The transmitters, measuring just two square centimetres, weigh only five grams, as the DLR reports. "No bigger than a thumbnail, they are powered by solar energy and house a complex transmitting and receiving unit, as well as sensors for recording animal movements and a data storage unit..»

The DLR describes the communication between the transmitter and the ISS antenna as follows: As soon as the ISS approaches a tagged animal, an integrated timer wakes the transmitter from its energy-saving mode. The transmitter then calculates when the space station will pass by. At that moment, the transmitter switches on and sends the recorded data to the ISS. 

From there, the data are sent to the control centre in Moscow, from where they are forwarded to the Icarus user data centre in Konstanz. "There, scientists feed the data into a worldwide database for animal movements, known as Movebank, writes the DLR. “This makes them accessible for scientific use.»

Background noise of the Earth

When the on-board computer on the ISS is booted up on July 10, the program will first test the entire system including connections and antenna. The system will then use the antenna to measure electronic noise on Earth for approximately two weeks, in order to later be able to reliably filter out the signals from the animal transmitters.

From November onwards, the researchers around Wikelski and project coordinator Uschi Müller will initially distribute hundreds of transmitters to cooperating research teams – in Russia, for example. In the coming years, thousands of transmitters are to be distributed, whose signals will be received and relayed by the ISS antenna – “like a giant data vacuum cleaner,” as Müller puts it. “Many groups worldwide want to participate in the project.”