A Stellar Solutions humanitarian R&D project · 2000–2023
QuakeFinder
QuakeFinder operated as a humanitarian research project of Stellar Solutions from 2000 – 2023 with the mission to save lives by forecasting major earthquakes. The project’s goal was to develop the technology and methods for detection and identification of electromagnetic earthquake precursors and ultimately to produce earthquake forecasts based on sound scientific theory and practice.
- ~160magnetic sensor stations
- 6earthquake-prone regions: California, Peru, Taiwan, Greece, Indonesia, Chile
- 2003QuakeSat, the first commercial triple CubeSat, launched
- >3σconfidence in electromagnetic earthquake precursors
From orbit to the fault line
In 2003, Stellar Solutions and QuakeFinder, along with Stanford University graduate students working at Lockheed Martin, built and launched QuakeSat. This commercial triple cubesat, the very first of its kind, provided intermittent coverage of earthquake areas worldwide. QuakeFinder then began deployment of a terrestrial network that could provide continuous monitoring of electromagnetic signals up and down the California coast, and specific earthquake-prone areas around the world.
QuakeFinder created an international network of around 160 magnetic sensor stations that continuously monitored ultra-low frequency electromagnetic emissions in earthquake-prone regions including California, Peru, Taiwan, Greece, Indonesia and Chile. This data collected by these sensors can serve as the foundation of a future forecasting system.
Evidence of electromagnetic precursors
Algorithms invented and developed by QuakeFinder have demonstrated a greater than 3-sigma confidence in the existence of electromagnetic earthquake precursors (meaning 99.7% confidence these precursors are not just a fluke). This statistically significant evidence is built on nearly two decades of monitoring and careful study including several peer-reviewed publications and collaborations with other researchers.
In 2019, QuakeFinder partnered with Google who applied their research expertise in data analysis and machine learning to the QuakeFinder dataset and found evidence of electromagnetic precursors at a confidence level of at least 2 sigma (and nearing 4 sigma under certain conditions!).
Read the 2022 announcement of the QuakeFinder + Google Research study →
We are exceedingly proud of our pioneering work on QuakeFinder. It is our hope that these statistically significant results evidencing electromagnetic precursors to earthquakes have laid the groundwork for important work in the future of earthquake forecasting.
Papers by QuakeFinder
Seventeen peer-reviewed papers and conference proceedings from 2002 to 2022, from QuakeSat through two decades of magnetometer research.