Fleet Space Technologies, an Australian innovator in space and mineral exploration technologies, has won two awards in the 2024 Mining Technology Excellence Awards for its groundbreaking approach to mineral exploration and its impressive global business expansion.
The Mining Technology Excellence Awards celebrate the greatest achievements and innovations in the mining industry. Powered by GlobalData’s business intelligence, the Awards recognize the people and companies that are driving change in the industry.
Fleet Space Technologies won the Innovation award for its vertically integrated mineral exploration technology, ExoSphere, which combines the latest advances in satellite connectivity, 3D multiphysics data acquisition, and artificial intelligence (AI) into a single end-to-end solution that images mineral systems in real-time with near-zero environmental impact.
The Business Expansion award recognises the company’s strategic international growth, a diverse and burgeoning workforce, and strong financial performance underscored by widespread industry adoption by leading exploration companies like Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, Core Lithium, among many others. For example, Barrick Gold recently used ExoSphere’s real-time 3D imaging on copper porphyry complexes for multiple zones of interest across 1,150km2 of their Reko Diq project. Additionally, Gold Fields tapped ExoSphere to enhance their data-driven exploration of Salares Norte in Northern Chile and develop new targets in the near field of the BP-AA system.
Space & AI advance data-driven, low-impact exploration at scale
Fleet Space Technologies has been at the forefront of space technology innovation stemming from the company’s development of Australia’s first low Earth orbit satellite constellation. Leveraging their proprietary satellite network and smart seismic sensors (Geodes), Fleet Space pioneered the creation of the world’s first end-to-end mineral exploration solution to image mineral systems in real-time up to 5km in depth while minimising environmental impact. For the sustainability benefits ExoSphere unlocks across the global exploration value chain, Fleet Space was awarded the Climate Technology Impact Award in 2024 by the Banksia Foundation.
The system’s novel integration of real-time 3D data acquisition, satellite-enabled data processing, and multi-scale AI models represents a paradigm shift towards the hyper-scalable, low-impact strategies needed to unlock the next wave of energy transition mineral discoveries. Fleet Space recently conducted the world’s largest real-time Ambient Noise Tomography (ANT) copper survey across 1,800km2 of Australia’s Macquarie Arc, identifying multiple new targets in the highly prospective and under-explored region for Inflection Resources as part of their Exploration Agreement with AngloGold Ashanti.
The company’s satellite constellation, which has continued to expand with the launch of the company’s Centauri-6 satellite on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-1 mission, is a testament to its commitment to innovation. These satellites are critical for the real-time data transmission that enables the real-time delivery of ExoSphere’s 3D imaging to onsite teams operating in remote areas around the world.
Fleet Space’s patented smart seismic sensors built with advanced edge computing – called Geodes – enable mass acquisition and transmission of high-quality 3D subsurface data to the satellites. In addition to being 3-20x more sensitive than other geophones, they also leverage their in-built direct-to-satellite (DTS) connectivity to deliver real-time quality control to ensure high-quality remote data collection without multiple trips into the field.
The Geodes used as part of the terrestrial ExoSphere system represent the technological precursor for Fleet Space’s lunar variant – SPIDER – which will be deployed on the Moon in 2026. Designed to operate in the harsh conditions of space, SPIDER will collect subsurface seismic data from the lunar regolith to search for water ice and other geological properties that support the development of permanent research stations on the Moon.
To advance off-world exploration research, Fleet Space has collaborated with MIT’s Space Exploration Initiative to deliver 3D mapping of some of the world’s largest lava tubes on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands using the ExoSphere Geodes. By mapping the world’s largest lava tubes, Fleet Space is contributing to research that will inform future efforts to build permanent infrastructure for humans on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Real-Time, end-to-end exploration: Demand-driven global business expansion
Fleet Space’s business expansion has been burgeoned by the company’s strategic growth into key international markets, including the US, Canada, Chile, and Luxembourg. This global footprint has enabled the company to scale its operations and support the evolving and complex needs of its global customer base.
Financially, Fleet Space was named Australia’s fastest growing company in 2023, while also closing A$50 million Series C funding round that doubled the company’s valuation to A$350 million, demonstrating strong business growth coupled with high investor confidence in the company’s future.
The rapid global adoption of Fleet Space’s ExoSphere solution now encompasses over 40 leading exploration companies, which have used the technology to conduct hundreds of surveys to search for energy transition minerals across five continents. The real-time and predictive capabilities unlocked with ExoSphere have radically enhanced the speed, sustainability, scale, and accuracy of data-driven exploration – positioning the company as a key innovation partner to the mining industry, driving faster and more sustainable outcomes on a global scale.
“Hyper-scalable, low-impact exploration strategies are critical to enhance mineral systems knowledge of highly prospective, under-explored regions of the world and accelerate discovery. Enabled by Fleet Space’s innovations in frontier space technology, ExoSphere’s end-to-end integration of real-time 3D multiphysics acquisition and processing with advanced multi-scale AI models is a powerful step to radically narrow the targeting search space on a global scale.” – CEO & Co-Founder, Fleet Space Technologies, Flavia Tata Nardini
Company Profile
Fleet Space Technologies, Australia’s leading space exploration company, is revolutionizing critical mineral discovery with its end-to-end mineral exploration solution, ExoSphere, which combines satellite connectivity, 3D multiphysics, and AI to image mineral systems in real-time. Over 40 leading exploration companies like Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, and Core Lithium have used ExoSphere’s real-time 3D subsurface imaging on projects across five continents. Due to global demand for ExoSphere, Fleet Space’s international footprint has expanded to the US, Canada, Chile, and Luxembourg with over 130+ employees, representing 37 nationalities, worldwide. Fleet Space was named “Australia’s Fastest Growing Company” by the Australian Financial Review in 2023 and recognized with the Climate Impact Technology Award by the Banksia Foundation in 2024.
Reach out here to speak with the Fleet Space team
Links:
Website: https://www.fleetspace.com
