Fleetspace designs and manufactures its own seismic sensors, called Geodes. Credit: Fleetspace
The Adelaide, Australia-based space technology company is revolutionizing mineral exploration by delivering 3D subsurface models in a matter of days, greatly accelerating the acquisition and processing of geophysical data used to select drilling targets.
Fleet Space Technologies started out in 2015 as a satellite company focused on industrial IoT solutions, such as monitoring remote oil pipelines, offshore wind turbines, and hydroelectric lines, before finding important applications in the mining and exploration industry.
“The problem with traditional surveying methods is that it takes time to collect data, process it and deliver it to the mining company,” says Kevin Ramani, chief revenue officer at Fleet Space. “In the field, a series of geophones are placed underground and left in the ground for weeks, sometimes months, to collect data, which is then sent to a geophysical company, who downloads the data, processes it and sends it back to the customer on a flash drive. It’s a very outdated customer experience.”
EXOSPHERE is an end-to-end mineral exploration technology that helps exploration companies reduce the time and resources needed to find significant deposits. Credit: Fleet Space
Fleet Space saw an opportunity to use a constellation of low-orbit satellites to collect data in near real-time without having to move seismic sensors from the field. The company then discovered that by combining satellite connectivity with Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT), a low-impact technology for collecting passive seismic data, it could create a solution that would provide exploration companies with subsurface insights in near real-time, anywhere on the planet.
“ANT listens to sounds made by the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates, as well as vibrations throughout the Earth as they pass through structures below the surface at different speeds,” Ramani explains. “The noise data is used to generate a 3D image, a sort of ultrasound of the ground that geologists can use to identify fault lines, alteration zones, and other geological structures.”
From there, Fleet Space designed and manufactured patented seismic sensors (called Geodes) that integrate the latest technologies in ANT, edge computing and satellite connectivity to provide clients around the world with 3D subsurface models of their survey areas within days. Today, Fleet Space’s end-to-end mineral exploration technology, called ExoSphere, is used to conduct more than 250 surveys across five continents for over 35 mining companies, including Rio Tinto, Core Lithium and Barrick Gold.
“We’ve been able to reduce data collection time to 48 hours,” says Ramani. “Because our satellites collect the data, we no longer need to transport sensors in the field. This means we can move the sensor to the next area and conduct multiple surveys quickly.”
Instead of taking weeks to process data, Fleet Space can create 3D models within days, allowing customers to make data-driven decisions while Geode and crews are still in the field.
“If we find something interesting on the edge of a surveyed area, we can make a decision in real time to move the geode and survey an adjacent area,” Ramani points out. “This is unheard of – no one else does this. We’re now seeing a surge in demand for our services, with many customers returning for further surveys.”
Fleet Space’s accomplishments aren’t just limited to Earth: The company was named Australia’s fastest growing company in 2023 and won a contract to build SPIDER, a geophysical instrument to explore the lunar subsurface as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program in 2026.
The above joint venture article is promotional content sponsored by Fleet Space Technologies and produced in collaboration with MINING.com. For more information, visit www.fleetspace.com.
