Fleet Space’s mineral scanning tech could be used on the Moon as soon as 2025

Freshly appointed Dr Gerrit Olivier plans to deploy geophysical rovers on the moon by 2025
The company recently trialled ExoSphere successfully at Core Lithium’s Finniss project
The IMF says we need US$13 trillion of critical energy transition minerals

Fleet Space Technologies has just appointed a Director of Planetary Geophysics.

Dr Gerrit Olivier is former Director and Head of Applied Geophysics at the Institute of Mine Seismology and Senior Adjunct Researcher at the Centre for Ore Deposits and Earth Sciences at the University of Tasmania, and he is a pioneer of the use of ambient seismic noise based methods for use in the mineral and materials exploration industry.

Which is cool, but now one of his roles is to look for critical minerals on the Moon and Mars.

“Fleet’s ExoSphere earth-scanning technology is already finding applications to make the search for the critical energy transition minerals more economical, faster and much more sustainable,” co-founder Matt Pearson said.

“As explorers on this planet and beyond we must work with the very best in their respective fields.

“Dr Gerrit Olivier brings an extraordinary track record in the development of Ambient Noise Tomography techniques to answer the urgent global requirement to find these critical materials while dramatically reducing impact.”

We need US$13 trillion of critical minerals

Dr Olivier says that to achieve the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources “the International Monetary Fund states we need to find $13 trillion (USD) worth of critical energy transition minerals.”

“To achieve this, we must discover many more mineral deposits in increasingly more challenging settings,” he said.

“Fleet’s ExoSphere technology answers the urgent call to unlock the power of new exploration methods to quickly, more economically and more sustainably look deeper beneath the surface.”

ExoSphere basically delivers detailed subsurface 3D velocity mapping in as little as four days using an array of Geodes (satellite connected seismic sensors).

The battery-operated Geodes use edge computing to analyse ambient seismic noise, which is sent by satellite for processing, then the data is rapidly processed in the cloud to deliver a 3D visualisation of the area and drive critical exploration decisions.

The next stop is the actual Moon

ExoSphere recently reported successful results from trials at Core Lithium’s (ASX:CXO) Finniss Project in the Northern Territory, and Fleet Space says it’s signed customers in Australia and North America, with slots currently being filled for June/July 2023.

But the next stop for the tech is other planets, with Dr Olivier leading the team that aims to deploy a geophysical device on the dark side of the Moon by 2025.

“Fleet has a goal to deliver a fleet of geophysical rovers to the Moon and Mars to scan the subsurface so we can find the resources needed for in-situ utilisation, which is needed to establish a permanent presence on celestial bodies,” the company said.

“We hope to deploy a fleet of devices on the Moon this decade, with a Mars deployment in the next.

“With discussions about colonising the Moon and Mars feeling less like science fiction and more like near future plans, we’ll need to find the resources to build these sustainable colonies in advance of deciding where to land.”

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