The Athabasca Basin is a highly remote region in northern Canada.
The region supplies 20 percent of the world’s uranium thanks to its unique geological formations that trap uranium at the unconformity between sedimentary rocks and the underlying basement.
But the region is incredibly difficult to access and lacks extensive road infrastructure, making it a challenge to explore and develop, and access the uranium that is needed around the world.
But thanks to technology developed by Adelaide-based tech firm Fleet Space Technologies, mineral exploration can be conducted in the basin without the need for invasive drilling, improving efficiency and reducing the environmental impact.
Fleet Space Technologies’ ExoSphere platform is also being used in the Chilean Andres, Macquarie Arc in Australia and the Arabian Shield, as part of a multi-year deal to survey 12,000 square kilometres of land.
ExoSphere combines Fleet’s miniaturised geophysical sensors, a proprietary low-Earth orbit satellite constellation and multi-modal AI models to deliver real-time 3D subsurface insights to exploration teams in these remote and complex regions.
It aims to address the urgent need for the discovery of critical minerals required to power the renewable energy revolution while reducing soil disruption, carbon emissions and ecosystem destabilisation.
“The idea behind ExoSphere came from a belief that space and sensing technologies could transform the way we explore Earth – using advances in satellites, AI and edge computing to make geoscience faster, more accurate and more sustainable,” Fleet Space co-founder and chief executive Flavia Tata Nardini said.
“What started as a vision to connect industries through nanosatellites evolved into a platform that’s now used by global resource leaders like Rio Tinto, Gold Fields, Barrick and Maaden, among many others, to image mineral systems in real-time.”
Fleet Space Technologies’ ExoSphere is a finalist in the InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence in the AI Technology and Defence and Dual-Use Technology categories. The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence winners and finalists will be celebrated at a black-tie gala dinner at Sydney Town Hall on Thursday, November 27. You can book your tickets here.
The AI Technology award is proudly sponsored by the National Artificial Intelligence Centre.
The category spotlights novel tools, technology or methodologies helping Australia build sovereign capability in AI, ones that aren’t just doing AI for AI’s sake, but to impact, inspire and make people’s lives better.
The Defence and Dual-Use Technology category highlights technologies benefitting civilian and military sectors, while also considering their ethical and legal implications.
The nomination is an “incredible honour”, Ms Nardini said.
“This nomination celebrates not just Fleet Space’s achievements, but Australia’s global role in building technologies that serve ESG-driven resource leaders on Earth and the future of off-world exploration,” she said.
“From imaging Saudi Arabia’s vast mineral systems with ExoSphere to advancing lunar science through SPIDER, this recognition underscores how Australian ingenuity can lead the world in the convergence of space, AI and resource intelligence — shaping a more sustainable and data-driven future for generations to come.”
Fleet Space Technologies is Australia’s leading space exploration company, and has developed, launched and operated Australia’s first sovereign LEO satellite constellation.
Last year the company secured a $150 million Series D funding round, the second largest for a mining tech company in 2024.
ExoSphere provides a data-driven, real-time platform that can identify potential deposits with a high-probability of mineralisation at a quicker speed and more accurately, with a far lower environmental impact.
The technology has been shown to reduce drilling costs by 60 percent and improve discovery success rates by up to four times.
The 2025 InnovationAus Awards for Excellence will be held on November 27 at the magnificent Sydney Town Hall. You can secure individual seats or book a table here. Purchase a table of 10 and have your logo displayed on screens across the venue and in the event programme as a ‘Table Sponsor’.
The InnovationAus 2025 Awards for Excellence are proudly supported by ACS, PEXA Group, the CSIRO ON Program, Griffith Hack, TechnologyOne, Q-CTRL, National AI Centre, University of New South Wales, KPMG, AgriFutures Australia, Investment NSW and IP Australia.
Protecting your great ideas with intellectual property (IP) rights can lead to lasting benefits for your growing business. IP refers to creations of the mind, such as a brand, logo, invention, design or artistic work. Head to the IP Australia website to find out more about IP, and how it might help your business.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.