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Natural Awakenings Healthy Living Magazine

Studying Animals From Space

birds against a blue sky

claffra from Getty Images/CanvaPro

In 2025, the Max Planck Society, a German research organization, plans to launch into space five miniature satellites, each the size of a Rubik’s cube, as part of the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space (ICARUS) project, which is designed to track the movements and body temperature of tagged animals, as well as the surrounding air temperature, air pressure and wind speed. Tiny solar-powered tags and artificial intelligence applications will allow scientists to gather and evaluate data on migration, nesting and mating patterns, while also determining the environmental and human conditions that may lead to an animal’s death. Because of advancements in tagging modalities and ICARUS’s relatively low cost, tags may also be employed to follow more obscure species, as well as objects such as glaciers and plastic debris.