An amazing project being conducted in space just may help save animals on Earth. There, a computer is tracking the behaviors and migrations of a host of mammals and birds on earth. Called the International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space, or ICARUS, the process uses sensors on animals to transmit data to an ICARUS antenna on the International Space Station. The goal is to create an information web showing how ecosystems are changing and animals are reacting in real time.

Before the program went online in 2020, researchers had to fit animals across a variety of species with small tags containing sensors to record their GPS position and environmental details. The tags then transmit the data when the space station passes within radio range.

See it for yourself on the online database called Movebank. It’s remarkable!