Rio Tinto operates an autonomous long-distance railway system, AutoHaul. A recent conference in Australia discussed synergies between the space and resources sectors. Photo: Rio Tinto

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA — Global resources companies benefit from satellite-enabled solutions throughout the lifecycle of their projects, such as providing critical information that’s used before exploration begins and after a project is completed to guide land rehabilitation.

But the relationship between the resources and space sectors is far from one-way. The inaugural Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference (IPSEC), in Perth, Western Australia in late October, showed that the resources powerhouse of Australia provides opportunities for space technology and future deep space missions.

Resources companies using Earth observation (EO) satellites is not new, but functionality and capabilities continue to increase. Sarah Coleman, president and CEO of mining technology solutions company Idoba, said parent company Perenti Group partnered with Lockheed Martin eight years ago to use satellites for mine reconciliation, measuring the performance of a mine, determining stockpiles and material movement. Satellites replaced the use of aircraft, which would require 10 days to process the data.

“Even then, we could get to millimeter precision, and we were able to turn that data around in less than 72 hours,” Coleman said.

EO satellite developments will lead to even more data, Coleman said, providing better models to predict what’s happening at sites, allowing mining companies to meet environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) requirements.

Space-based EO provides resources companies with multiple layers of data, identifying where mineral deposits were found historically and allowing predictions for the future, narrowing the footprint of projects and delivering environmental and safety benefits, said David Flanagan, former executive chair of Delta Lithium and chair of the Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) consortium.

The resources sector forms the bulk of clients for Australian company Arlula, which provides global, high resolution EO data from a variety of commercial and government satellites. Arlula’s Geostack Terra solution integrates and manages EO satellite data feeds, providing satellite imagery supporting critical decision making. “We have essentially built a platform for data to make sense,” Esha Anura, growth marketing lead told Via Satellite.

She said Australia is an advanced spatial market and the country’s resources companies are sophisticated EO data users. Arlula provides these companies data to support the whole process, including evaluating exploration sites, operations, monitoring stockpiles through to regeneration and meeting regulatory requirements more efficiently and quickly than previous methods such as drones, said Anura. The company’s solution is being used for individual mining projects and specific tasking, such as looking at a site over set periods or persistent monitoring.

“Space technology clearly helps address some of our greatest challenges, like our need to reach net zero targets and transition to a clean energy future,” said Enrico Palermo, head of the Australian Space Agency (ASA). “Prospecting can be complex, costly, invasive, with environmental impacts. Enter space and technology,” he added, pointing to Adelaide-based Fleet Space Technologies, which developed a non-invasive space-based exploration solution.

Fleet’s Exosphere comprises seven nanosatellites in Low-Earth Orbit which connect to portable seismic sensors called Geodes on the ground to support resources exploration. Fleet deploys about 100 sensors over several square kilometers to record seismic vibrations. By cross correlating the noise using ambient noise typography, it can create a 3D model of the subsurface down to about 1 or 2 kilometers in depth, explained Hemant Chaurasia, chief product officer.

The Geodes provide continual transmission over four days via satellite. Chaurasia said using satellites is key to getting the data back to the system, which then produces a 3D model of the subsurface using AI and machine learning within a matter of days, rather than months using alternatives.

Mining companies including Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, Kinross, Iluka, Core Lithium, and Hillgrove Resources are among those using the solution to provide a better picture of the subsurface, including greenfield exploration, drilling targets and providing better understanding of existing deposits. Fleet Space has completed more than 150 surveys to date.

Beyond that, Fleet is looking to space. “From the outset, this technology was intended to be dual use, as a pathfinder towards similar exploration capability on the Moon and Mars,” said Chaurasia.

ASA contracted Fleet to produce a Seismic Payload for Interplanetary Discovery, Exploration and Research (SPIDER), which is scheduled for a mission to the Moon’s South Pole on a commercial lunar lander to detect water ice. Fleet is also collaborating with NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) testing equipment on a rock glacier in Wyoming, ahead of exploration on the Moon or Mars.

“This is the type of thing we could one day do on Mars with a very small number of sensors to find resources that will be critical for a sustained human presence,” said Chaurasia. Seismic measurements could be combined with gravity measurements to provide an even richer understanding of the subsurface.

Technology and capability transfer between space and resources is a two-way benefit, with the space sector increasingly acknowledging the exploration and automation expertise of resources companies, as well as their experience in operating in harsh environments and asset monitoring — all crucial for deep space exploration.

“We are excited at the potential synergies with the mining, oil and gas industries as we journey far from home with missions that will require increased autonomy. To meet this challenge, we are looking at world-renowned technologies being used right here on Earth,” said James Free, NASA’s associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development. “Australia is home to world-class facilities that train, test and control remote and autonomous operations from the deep sea to deep space,” said Free, adding that the cutting-edge robotics and remote operations technology, developed in Western Australia (WA) in particular, will be invaluable for Moon and Mars exploration.

Free highlighted geotechnical survey company Fugro and its Perth-based Space Automation, AI and Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC), which has developed automation technology.

The technology initially focused on the offshore energy sector, and it has two uncrewed vessels currently operating in the North West Shelf natural gas location off Western Australia’s coast and controlled from Perth via satellite communications, said Samuel Forbes, director Fugro SpAARC. This technology is now being applied to space.

Fugro SpAARC is part of the consortium set up by Perth-based AROSE, and including Woodside Energy, Rio Tinto, and Australian engineering services and technology solutions company Nova Systems, to develop a remotely operated and semi-autonomous lunar rover to explore the Moon surface for NASA’s Artemis program. Two teams are competing to design Australia’s first Lunar rover under ASA’s Trailblazer program, which in turn is part of ASA’s $95 million Moon to Mars initiative designed to drive the growth of Australia’s space sector. One of the rovers will be selected for a Moon mission to collect lunar soil, which will be delivered to a NASA processing facility to extract oxygen as part of efforts to support human presence.

NASA selected Australia for the rover due to its expertise in remote operations and automation technology, developed in the resources industry, with such capabilities vital to Artemis.

“We cannot do our missions without having autonomous operations because of the significant time delay, the variable time delay, between deep space and Earth. It doesn’t allow Earth-based remote control,” said Dr. David Kormeyer, deputy center director, NASA Ames Research Center. “Deep space exploration drives the need for autonomy and developing autonomous operations is one of the most significant and challenging efforts.”

Australia’s resources and energy giants know a thing or two about remote and autonomous operations. Rio Tinto operates the world’s first fully autonomous, long-distance railway system, AutoHaul, delivering iron ore from mines in WA’s Pilbara to shipping terminals using AI and monitored remotely from Perth, more than 1,500 km away. Rio Tinto also deploys autonomous heavy trucks at its mine sites.

Woodside has the world’s first remotely operated LNG plant in the world, with its Pluto LNG Plant in WA’s north west entirely operated from a remote operations center in Perth, said Shawn Fernando, remote operations manager. Woodside has been working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement for some time, which resulted in “an outcome that was mutually beneficial for both and we were able to see the parallels for the space sector and ours,” he said.

Woodside’s robotics developments include the Spector Boston Dynamics Spot robots, which autonomously navigate the Pluto plant and capture images in extreme and potentially hazardous environments. NASA’s Johnson Space Center recently sent its Valkyrie robot to Woodside to develop and test remote mobile dexterous manipulation capabilities for remote caretaking of uncrewed and offshore energy facilities, which could be developed for Artemis missions.

“No one does automation at scale like the major resources companies in Australia,” said Michelle Keegan, AROSE program director. AROSE was established in 2020 specifically to leverage existing remote operations expertise in the Australian resource sector and catalyze knowledge transfer between terrestrial and off-Earth domains.

“In the last couple of years, we’ve really been starting to understand the commonalities,” Keegan told Via Satellite, with the resources sector bringing decades of exploration experience, as well as automation expertise.

“There’s still a lot of uncertainty around the Moon’s surface. But the resources sector, [has] been exploring for decades so the space sector is keen to understand the process by which we go and explore. How do we find a resource and then go about processing it and how can we take that thinking to the Moon,” Keegan said.

At the same time, the focus on environmental considerations in Earth-based mining will be vital for sustainable Moon missions, while Moon-based exploration could support the resource industry’s need to accelerate the discovery of critical minerals for decarbonization. The sectors need to collaborate to address these urgent and common challenges, Keegan added.

AROSE is working with NASA and the USGS to bring together the expertise. Earlier this year a workshop was hosted by NASA/USGS focusing on new technologies to detect and assess off-world mineral resources. “It was an early indication that some investments that Australia has made in new technology have a potentially really big role to play in this subsurface question,” said Jonathan Stock, director of the USGS National Innovation Center. Another workshop is planned for next February.

This work is vital to plug the gaps in knowledge about the subsurface of the Moon, Stock said, but the joint development of technology, sensors and concepts of operation could also provide significant benefit on Earth: “We are at an exciting time where there might be this common denominator, this aligned interest, to improve this technology.”

Emma Kelly is an aviation journalist, based in Perth, Western Australia. Following a career in the U.K. with industry publications and organizations including Flight International and Inmarsat, Emma has been freelance for the last 20 years since her move to Australia, writing for aviation publications and online services around the world.