OroraTech GmbH, a global leader in wildfire management services, announced today that Dr. Ignacio Zuleta has joined the company as an advisor to the CEO. A renowned Earth Observation (EO) leader, Dr. Zuleta has an expansive, diverse background in the community. He brings a wealth of experience in instrument design, data products, remote sensing, operations, and leadership to OroraTech. He joins an elite executive team working together to help OroraTech advance near-real-time thermal monitoring of natural disasters such as wildfire.

“Instrument constellations distributed across time and space are crucial to managing the full lifecycle of natural disasters: forecasting where they will hit first, directing operational response, and monitoring the aftermath for decades,” commented Dr. Ignacio Zuleta. “OroraTech's technology, vision, and velocity mark the start of the race for a new era of disaster digital twins powered by persistent EO. I am excited to join this talented team as it gets ready to deploy at scale a critically needed novel disaster response solution”.

"We are thrilled to welcome Ignacio to OroraTech. His unmatched expertise across Earth observation, remote sensing, and satellite operations reflects the level of excellence we’ve built into both our technology and our team,” comments CEO & CTO Martin Langer. “Attracting a leader like Ignacio shows how far we have come at OroraTech -  and how ready we are to take the next big leap in advancing wildfire management solutions worldwide."

Dr. Zuleta was a critical contributor to pioneering the first distributed EO constellations: during his time at Planet, he was involved in launching the first daily high-resolution land monitoring mission, oversaw payload development and operations, and helped drive product strategy. In addition to his tenure at Planet, Dr. Zuleta served as Head of Remote Sensing at Indigo Agriculture, an early Advisor at Hydrosat, and Vice President of Product for Satellogic’s imagery platform. He is also an independent consultant about remote sensing, engineering management, and instrument development. Dr. Zuleta holds a doctorate in Physical Chemistry from Stanford University and served as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco.