ICARUS Initiative
international project studying the migration routes of flying animals
The ICARUS Initiative (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space) is an international effort to track the migratory patterns of small flying animals using radio transmitters. The project began in 2002. The first tracking system operated on the International Space Station (ISS) between 2020 and 2022. The second system (ICARUS 2.0) consists of receivers aboard multiple uncrewed low Earth orbit satellites, first of which was launched in 2025. The project is led by Martin Wikelski, director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell and a professor of ornithology at the University of Konstanz.
Technology
Since the late 1980s animal tracking via satellite has been accomplished through the use of the Argos system, which was historically limited to larger animals. One major hurdle to tracking the movements of birds and especially insects is creating a transmitter small enough to place on individual animals.
The ICARUS project originally implemented 5 g radio transmitters that included a GPS receiver, but had plans to use devices weighing less than 1 g in the future. In 2026, when the ICARUS 2.0 constellation became operational, multiple versions of transmitters were available. The largest were around 4 g and included solar panels.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “ICARUS Initiative” as international project studying the migration routes of flying animals. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as international project studying the migration routes of flying animals. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16800629. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002, 2020, 2022 and 2025.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “ICARUS Initiative”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow ICARUS Initiative primary sources, ICARUS Initiative archive and ICARUS research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “ICARUS Initiative”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “ICARUS Initiative” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.