Australia's emerging space industry is looking to the moon and Mars, but it also has a very practical benefit for farmers working in the soils of planet Earth.

Key points: Hyperspectral satellite imaging (HSI) technology could allow farmers to monitor their crops from space

Hyperspectral satellite imaging (HSI) technology could allow farmers to monitor their crops from space A network of small satellites the size of shoeboxes could make information affordable and accessible to more farmers

A network of small satellites the size of shoeboxes could make information affordable and accessible to more farmers It is hoped the network, currently being trialled, could monitor food production and detect invasive pest and weed species

Sorry, this audio has expired Australian farmers can capitalise on the new space race

As the cost of making satellites and rocket launches become cheaper, so too does the hyperspectral satellite imaging (HSI) technology farmers hope will help them monitor their crops from space.

It could mean farmers are able to detect crop diseases, or nutrient and moisture deficiencies, across an entire paddock or farm before yield is affected — in a matter of minutes and hours rather than days or weeks, cheaply.

While the technology has its critics, Spectral Aerospace — an Australian and Canadian start-up with offices in Sydney and Calgary — is trying to develop a network of small satellites the size of shoeboxes that can make this information accessible and affordable to everyday farmers.

"As soon as we get our hyperspectral satellite up there [in space] then we can start really doing detailed analytics on the entire crop, including some disease detection," Spectral Aerospace co-founder, Ryan Hofer, said.

"Australia has some of the world's leading experts in Earth observation so that is one of the greatest advantages we have is building our hardware here in Australia."

Ryan Hofer and Benjamin Koschnick from Spectral Aerospace — a company trying to develop a network of small satellites. ( ABC Rural: Marty McCarthy )

Currently being trialled

The start-up plans to launch a network of six satellites in 2022 that can take detailed images of the earth to improve global food production, detect invasive pest and weed species and even scour the planet for minerals hidden beneath the earth's surface.

Spectral Aerospace is currently doing trials on the effectiveness of HSI for crop prediction from space using a Taiwanese satellite.

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There are a handful of companies around the world already offering detailed HSI imagery to farmers, but the sensors are attached to planes and drones, not satellites in space.

"[The Taiwanese satellite] has very good resolution and the correct bands for us to do very simple health monitoring of crops, but obviously we are working towards owning our own satellites with expanded capabilities," co-founder, Ben Koscknick, said.

"One thing we are currently testing in the Philippines is rice. This technology has been proven using current space infrastructures in corns, grains and other vegetables, but it can include some interesting economic data predicting how much your crop can produce.

"With rice for example, we are predicting about 90 per cent accuracy [for yield predictions]. So two-thirds through the growing season we can predict how much rice they will produce."

Hyperspectral imagery is not new, it was developed arounds 30 years ago, but falling costs of space technology, as well as our improved ability to store and process large amounts of data, could see greater uptake of the technology, particularly in the field of precision agriculture.

Small satellites known as CubeSats being launched from the International Space Station. CubeSats are a cheap and effective platform for scientists. ( Supplied: UNSW )

The technology divides optical and infrared images into hundreds of spectral bands that the human eye cannot see — such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared waves, visible light waves, ultraviolet waves, x-rays and gamma rays.

In comparison, human eyes can only detect three bands in the visible spectrum — red, green and blue.

In 2001 researchers from the University of Adelaide used hyperspectral imagery to tell the difference between Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz grapes with 91.5 per cent accuracy.

In 2018 researchers in Germany used a hyperspectral remote sensing camera attached to drone to help predict yield in wheat grown on plots with varying amounts of fertilizer concentration.

The HSI sensor can detected the concertation of chlorophyll (CHL) — the green photosynthetic pigment found in plants which is a direct indicator of plant health — and the Leaf Area Index (LAI) of the crops.

The researchers found "a promising grain yield prediction was realised using the benefits from both the LAI and the CHL predictions, which showed a strong correlation to different [fertiliser] treatments".

This research was done using cameras attached to drones, but Mr Koschnick says the principle is the same for satellites with similar sensors operating in space.

"This is technology that has been built before and it is just a matter of taking it and applying it in a whole new light and then getting it out there to show customers what we can do," he said.

Drones can provide more detailed images of earth, Aerospace hopes doing the imaging from beyond Earth's atmosphere will be cheaper. ( ABC Rural: Marty McCarthy )

What can farmers learn from space?

Savannah McQuirk, PhD candidate at the University of Sydney's Centre for CubeSat's Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and their Applications (CUAVA), uses hyperspectral imaging for her research into mapping soil carbon in Australia.

Ms McQuirk said easy access for everyday farmers to affordable HSI technology could help them understand their soil carbon levels, which would assist them in better preparing for drought.

"If a farmer has good soil carbon then their soil has an increased water holding capacity, it retains nutrients better, there is less nutrients leached out when water runs of their farmer, there is lower erosion rate and it makes their farm more drought resilient," she said.

"If we could use these satellites to measure soil carbon then that would allow farmers to build soil carbon on their properties and increase their profitability and drought resilience of their farms."

While drones and planes can take more detailed images closer to the earth, Spectral Aerospace hopes doing the imaging from beyond Earth's atmosphere will have a bigger benefit — cost.

Mr Koschnick thinks that despite the high price tag of building the satellites and then sending them into space, economies of scale will actually make the imaging more affordable for farmers.

"Satellites are actually far cheaper than drones simply by virtue of the fact that with six satellites we can do every farm in the world," Mr Koschnick said.

Drones are being used to help with the satellite surveying. ( ABC News: Laura Beavis )

"With a drone you need to put it together, you fly it for 20 minutes and it has to land again, and then recharge. There are labour costs involved too. And in that time is covers a couple of square kilometres.

"With a satellite you launch it once and for the next eighteen months it is imaging 420 square kilometres per second."

Is it worth it?

Spectral Aerospace said it conducted its own research into the cost of HSI services currently available to farmers in Australia, and found it costs about $37 per hectare on average.

However, Mr Koschnick and Mr Hofer think they predict their satellites could do it for as little as $8.

"The network we are developing is weekly data, so a satellite will pass over every point of the earth once a week, but we are eyeing off an increased amount of satellites to get to a point where it is daily, and then hourly," Mr Koschnick said.

Ms McGuirk said the price of using a hyperspectral imaging drone service in Australia is about $4,000 overall, including labour and operational costs, and getting the data processed in a way that is understandable.

She welcomed the possibility of it being made cheaper, but said satellite imagery still has a major problem — it lacks detail.

"At present, most satellites have 30 metre-wide pixels, which means if you have a change on the ground [in your crop] in under 30 metres, you won't be able to detect it," Ms McQuirk said.

"If you have pixels from UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicles) flights then the pixels are more likely to be 10 centimetres, which means you can pick up changes with a lot finer detail."

The European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 monitors changing vegetation on earth, sending images back and collaborating on new research with Australia's CSIRO. ( Supplied: ESA/ATG medialab )

Despite questioning whether using HSI imagery from a single satellite would be overly beneficial, Ms McQuirk suggested that combining the space images with drone ones could be far more beneficial.

"A more efficient approach is to have your property surveyed by a UAV to clarify a satellite image, and improve the resolution in the satellite imagery," she said.

"Then the satellite will go over every few days or months and you give you automatic updates without having to spend another $4,000."

Professor Andrew Robson, Director of the Applied Agriculture Remote Sensing Centre at the University of New England, has been researching the benefits of remote sensing technology for farmers for over 25 years.

He said existing technology — such as multispectral imaging (MSI) from satellites — is already available to farmers free of cost.

MSI sensors measures less bands (5-7) as opposed to the hundreds HSI can detect, and are therefore less accurate, but they can still evaluate soil productivity and identify pests, diseases and weeds.

"Something like sentinel imagery from the European Space Agency is available free of charge and there are quite a few commercial companies in Australia who are providing free vigour maps to growers," Professor Robson said.

"Access to hyperspectral is not that great [yet], and then you have to answer the question that if it does become available, is it going to give you more answers than the free satellites already can?"

Professor Robson also said while there are often bold claims made about the potential of HSI to help farmers solve some of their biggest problems, the technology has limitations that often gets overlooked.

Remote sensing expert from the University of New England Professor Andrew Robson said there is a lot of potential for remote sensing technology. ( ABC Rural: Marty McCarthy )

"Sceptical isn't the right word, but after researching this technology for over 25 years [I also understand] the influence that seasons, locations and even different crop varieties have on the ability of remote sensing to predict and measure certain things," he said.

"HSI technology is interesting, the hyperspectral resolution or bands provided definitely has benefits, there's no disputation that, but what you have to be wary of is applying specific wavelengths to certain constituents, such as plant disease.

"It works very well in a controlled environment when you take away anything else, like different soil [types] and water and fertility variations, but under field conditions every location is different."

Making sense of big data

A further limitation to detailed satellite imagery is the ability of an average user to read and make sense of the data, and then know how to use it practically on the farm.

"The data it provides is very useful and handy but [the challenge] is understanding how to apply it — when at the time of year do you do it, what type of season and location and what variety," Professor Robson said.

"Something like LandSat has been around since the 1970s and there have been many companies and much research looking at remote-sensing for farm use, but to be honest the adoption is still quite light on."

Professor Robson said companies trying to make remote imaging data more accessible to farmers need to develop a platform that farmers can understand.

He likened an end product to something similar to the Bureau of Meteorology's website that shows easy-to-read rainfall maps.

"There have been many companies and much research looking at remote sensing data for farm use, but to be honest the adoption of this technology remains quite light on," he said.

NBN's Sky Muster II satellite was launched from the French Guiana Space Centre in South America on October 6, 2016. ( Supplied: NBN Co )

Spectral Aerospace said it understands the presentation of the data needs to be simple and seamless, and said it is already addressing this.

"We are developing something that is web-based or phone app-based so it is easy enough for people to access using their existing technical knowledge," Mr Koschnick said.

"We hope to get to a stage where we can not only educate farmers on how to use that data but also have a back-end computer that can do some of that work and decision making for them."

It is an exciting space at the moment — pardon the pun — but farmers want access to information that can help them be more productive.

While it is just one small step for the nation's emerging space industry, it is one giant leap for Australian farmers.

"Here in Australia farmers are very innovative, and as [the industry] is growing rapidly you have unique challenges here that earth observation can address that at scale," Mr Hofer said.

"I'm from Canada — we both are large countries with small populations — so being able to leverage earth observation technology to spread it across the country is very useful.

"There's a lot of really smart people really doing good work in hardware and software but the industry as a whole but we are excited to see the industry in Australia grow."