Historically, earth observation satellites have been utilized for defense and security purposes.
With increasing pressures from rapid urbanization and climate change, economic and infrastructure development underscores the need to leverage Earth observation (EO) satellites for sustainable practices and infrastructure resilience.
Earth observation technologies provide valuable data, such as satellite imagery, geospatial information, and remote sensing, for monitoring infrastructure assets, identifying potential vulnerabilities, and assessing their condition over time.
Data can also be used to evaluate environmental risks made more frequent and intense by climate change, such as flooding, landslides, and coastal erosion. These data can help engineers and planners design more resilient infrastructure or avoid building or developing in high-hazard and risk areas.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment announced on 31 January 2024 that the country’s Space Agency has signed an agreement with Australia’s leading space research organization, the SmartSat Co-operative Research Centre, to collaborate on space science and technology research projects.
Up to $6 million will be available from the Government’s Catalyst Fund, supporting New Zealand researchers in participating in collaborative research projects under this agreement.
New Zealand’s Space Minister Judith Collins welcomed the agreement: “This collaboration agreement between the New Zealand Space Agency and Australia’s leading space research organization will advance space science, technology, and cooperation and provide real-world benefits to New Zealanders.”
Newsroom reports that the funding has brought EY Oceania space tech leader Anthony Jones to New Zealand to discuss the benefits of satellite data.
Jones argues that EO data will be crucial for a small country like New Zealand, which faces more frequent extreme weather events. He says that high-resolution satellite imagery data with artificial Intelligence and machine learning could reduce the time it takes to respond to infrastructure breakdowns and potentially even prevent them from happening in the first place.
EO Data to Boost Infrastructure Resilience in New Zealand
The article notes that there has been a significant growth of EO orbiting the Earth from 50 in 2013 to more than 1000 a decade later. The cost of launching them has also plummeted to 8% compared to 2000.
With increasing EO supply, data from these satellites is becoming more economically feasible each year. Jones said keeping an eye on space tech could help New Zealand deal with its particular infrastructure issues, such as the volatility of water-soaked cliffs above roads and coastal rails or rail services disrupted by weekly cancellations and delays and problems of forestry slash that have plagued New Zealand’s environment.
Monitoring Infrastructure From Space
According to the Newsroom article, the idea is to use satellite data from space to monitor infrastructure remotely, zooming in and spotting minor problems before they become major.
Aside from providing visual images, satellites also use other forms of detection, like radar, which can recognize the presence of water down to the millimeter.
For EY Oceania transport leader Neal Johnston, rail operators can stop using helicopters or drones to assess damage. “We can see every square meter of the Earth down to a resolution of 30 centimeters. That’s the power of satellite data”, Johnson says (Scott, 2024).
EO Data and Asset Management
EO technologies can support asset management systems by providing accurate and up-to-date information about the condition of infrastructure assets, such as roads, bridges, and pipelines. This information allows asset managers to prioritize maintenance activities, allocate resources efficiently, and extend the infrastructure assets’ lifespan.
Marrying satellite data with AI and machine learning ushers the infrastructure sector into a future of sustainable, safe, and efficient infrastructural planning. It would not only reduce response time to infrastructure issues– prevent major disasters and increase recovery times, but it can also prevent them altogether.
Source:
How satellite imagery can inform disaster resilience strategies. (2024, March 21). GovInsider. Retrieved from https://govinsider.asia/intl-en/article/how-satellite-imagery-can-inform-disaster-resilience-strategies
Agreement to advance space science and technology. (2024, January 31). Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment. Retrieved from https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/agreement-to-advance-space-science-and-technology/
NZ-Australia work to advance space science. (2024, January 31). Releases. Beehive.govt.nz. Retrieved from https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-australia-work-advance-space-science
Scott, M. (2024, April 10). Eyes in the sky could bolster infrastructure resilience. Newsroom. Retrieved from https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/10/eyes-in-the-sky-could-bolster-infrastructure-resilience/
Kargieman, E. (2022, September 6). Smart City Planning For Resilience: Earth Observation Data And Critical Infrastructure. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/09/06/smart-city-planning-for-resilience-earth-observation-data-and-critical-infrastructure/?sh=62d54bcc4772
Song Y, Wu P. Earth Observation for Sustainable Infrastructure: A Review. Remote Sensing. 2021; 13(8):1528. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081528
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