Fleet Space, Stanford University’s Mineral-X team up to advance space-enabled climate innovation

Australia-based Fleet Space Technologies, developer and operator of microsatellites, announced Monday that it has been named an industrial affiliate of Stanford University’s Mineral-X program — a research organization combining expertise in geoscience, resource optimization and artificial intelligence (AI) to enable a decarbonized mineral supply chain.

ExoSphere, Fleet Space’s space-enabled mineral exploration solution, delivers 3D subsurface models in days, rather than months or years with other methods. Major miners including Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold and Core Lithium have used the technology to complete hundreds of surveys on different commodity types across five continents.

The research collaboration with Stanford’s Mineral-X aims to unlock innovation and accelerate a clean energy future leveraging space technology, the company said.

With faculty and scientists at Mineral-X, Fleet Space will engage in joint research on technological innovation to accelerate sustainable mineral discovery in support of the energy transition.

The focus will be on the optimization of drill targeting using satellite connectivity and space-enabled geophysical sensors to deliver real-time subsurface insight at scale — vital capabilities for increasing the accuracy and efficiency of exploration campaigns.

“The exploration technologies we’ve built at Fleet Space — enabled by our proprietary satellite constellation — represent a more sustainable and scalable path to increase the supply of energy transition minerals needed to achieve net-zero,” Fleet Space CEO Flavia Tata Nardini said in a news release.