Comment: Satellite data is critical to managing Earth’s resources

We are entering a new era of data: data that is actionable, accessible and prescient, allowing companies, governments and consumers alike to make well-informed decisions to reduce their impact on the planet and protect our natural resources.

Data from technologies such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR), optical technologies and AI have the potential to address some of humanity’s biggest existential threats by enabling environmental monitoring and protection, resource management, humanitarian response, and sustainable development.

Earth observation, powered by cutting-edge satellites, now offers a previously unthinkable volume of precise data that is transforming the way in which we manage the planet’s resources. Take agriculture, for example. As the world’s population grows, so does the need to maximise agricultural output while reducing the impact of agriculture on the planet.  Agriculture has a devastating effect on the natural world; it’s the leading source of pollution in many countries due to overuse of pesticides, fertilisers and other toxic chemicals which in turn poison fresh water, marine ecosystems, air and soil.

Satellite data powers ‘precision agriculture’ to increase agricultural yields by monitoring soil, chlorophyll content, the release of greenhouse gases and rainfall to inform predictions for agricultural output and allow farmers to adjust their methods in response to the data. Precision agriculture can also reduce the need for natural forests to make way for more agricultural land helping to maintain our planet's biodiversity.

Satellite data also offers huge potential to address water scarcity. Around 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year. By 2025 over half of the world's population is expected to reside in water-stressed areas, numbers that will be exacerbated significantly if climate change and population growth follow or exceed predicted trajectories, according to PEW.

Water security will increasingly become a priority for governments and a major cause of migration; in 2017, severe droughts contributed to the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two, when 20 million people across Africa and the Middle East were forced to leave their homes due to the accompanying food shortages and conflicts. Satellite data offers an opportunity for much more efficient use of water and much better control over the quality of the water available.  

Satellite environmental monitoring offers data based on different parameters such as temperature, chlorophyll and turbidity – and by looking at the relationship between the concentration of water sediment and the reflectance or radiance of a particular site and date we can predict water quality very far out into the future.

Earth observation will also play a huge role in the protection and growth of natural habitats. Remote sensing has proved a game-changer in terms of the quality of images scientists and researchers now have at their disposal to study the behaviour of wild animals, for example. This technology has been deployed by scientists and researchers to study, among other things, how animals respond to climatic change.

Satellite data also has an interesting role to play in the growth of the electric vehicle industry. Global demand for lithium is forecast to grow by around 400 per cent by 2025, due to its use in electric vehicle batteries, and it has become a vital metal for technologies which accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon economy.

As demand for and production of electric vehicles rises, the automotive sector will need to find new sources of lithium beyond what is currently below the Earth’s surface. Earth observation data enables lithium detection from LEO (lower earth orbit) – that is, an orbit around the earth within an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 mi) or less. This also offers the possibility of mining this crucial element from asteroids - and possibly one day, even the Moon.

We in the satellite industry are at pains to drive awareness of the important role satellite data will play in our fight against climate change. The rapid leaps in technology have placed satellite data in the driving seat of sustainability and will be key to achieving many of the ambitions to be discussed at COP 27 this month.

Bryan Dean is CEO of Dragonfly Aerospace