THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
× 
Startup City Weekly Brief
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Startup City
Startup City
Hydrosat
Precision Farming Reinforced with Spaceborne Data
Jakob van Zyl, Co-Founder and CEOEven though this story is farfetched, the continuous undertone of precautions taken by scientists to keep our planet habitable amid growing agricultural demand is quite real. Populations are growing and need more to eat, yet global farmland is shrinking. Against this challenge, Jakob van Zyl, a former associate director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, co-founded Hydrosat along with three colleagues, including Pieter Fossel, an intuitive business consultant. The company aims to improve precision farming and agricultural productivity on a global scale. “We are a data analytics company that uses spaceborne thermal infrared imagery to create heat maps of agricultural lands,” explains Fossel.
Notably, Hydrosat offers its in-house software to give growers the actionable information they need to achieve better precision farming, creating more produce at a significantly lower cost.
Our technology can determine the yield of crops months ahead of time, as plant production is highly influenced by stress
By studying the data drawn from Hydrosat’s thermal imagery satellites, farmers can better understand the optimum time to water the crop for the best yield. “Studies show that watering a plant based on when it actually needs the water as opposed to a scheduled watering improves the harvest by 20 percent,” notes van Zyl. Growers do not typically use thermal imagery today, as they would have to hire expensive drones to fly over their fields or buy low-resolution data from government agencies weeks after the images were taken, making the data less than useful. Hydrosat aims to bring them the exact information farmers need at the moment they need it.
Alongside partnerships with agribusiness companies, Hydrosat also works closely with the U.S. Government and the European Space Agency to develop products across the agricultural value chain. By leveraging the predictive capabilities of its software, Hydrosat customers in the food production and distribution business can predict crop yields on a regional or global basis, which will increase the efficiency of supply chains and greatly reduce price fluctuations. Van Zyl explains, “Our technology can determine the yield of crops months ahead of time, as plant production is highly influenced by stress.” The heat maps that Hydrosat produces will let the company know precisely how much stress crops in a field are undergoing, which directly affects the quantity and quality of yield. They will then pass this information on to customers, who can make informed business decisions based on facts on the ground.
Moving forward, Hydrosat intends to continue its research and development on its proprietary algorithms while gearing up for its first satellite launch in 2021. Among other things, the company is investing efforts in building software tools to manage high-value crops like pecans and almonds—these crops require heavy irrigation, so precise data could significantly reduce water usage and costs to growers.
Once Hydrosat’s data are commercially available, farmers can maximize their yield and agribusiness will be more efficient. “As Hydrosat makes previously unobtainable satellite data available for users, it will revolutionize the future of agriculture,” concludes Fossel.
Hydrosat News
US Air Force Contracts with Hydrosat for Space-Based Thermal Data
Hydrosat Announces the Launch of VanZyl-1: The First Commercial Satellite Offering High-Resolution Thermal Imagery & Global Coverage
The Proprietary Imagers will Revolutionize Water Stress and Crop Health Monitoring, Enhancing Food Security Amid Climate Change
WASHINGTON - Hydrosat, the climate tech company leveraging thermal imagery to measure water stress in agriculture and mitigate the effects of climate change, announced today the upcoming launch of its first satellite, VanZyl-1, scheduled for early July on SpaceX's Transporter-11, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This groundbreaking satellite will showcase Hydrosat's proprietary, first-of-its-kind custom imagers, to accelerate the delivery of global high-resolution thermal imaging technology and provide a critical dataset to further enhance agricultural and climate models. For the first time, a commercial satellite will include high-resolution thermal imagery and insights spanning the entire Earth - including land and water - revolutionizing the way growers and government agencies evaluate and respond to agricultural, environmental, and climate challenges.
Hydrosat named the VanZyl-1 satellite in honor of Jakob van Zyl, one of Hydrosat's co-founders who passed away in 2020 following a decades-long career that included esteemed leadership roles at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and on numerous space exploration missions. Like its namesake, VanZyl-1 aims to achieve results that have never before been attempted. Specifically, the satellite will reveal a better understanding of global water stress, particularly in agriculture, which is often caused by drought and insufficient irrigation. By using thermal infrared imagery, VanZyl-1 will measure the impact of climate change and provide actionable data.
"With the escalating threat of droughts and water scarcity worldwide, access to reliable data is essential to understanding water utilization and sustaining agricultural productivity," said Pieter Fossel, co-founder and CEO of Hydrosat. "As the global food system faces mounting pressure, businesses and governments are increasingly seeking better data to manage risks in real-time. The launch of VanZyl-1 represents a pivotal advancement in accelerating the delivery of high-quality data that fuels climate applications, providing invaluable insights to tackle pressing environmental issues."
The unique advantage of Hydrosat's pioneering technology is its ability to provide more frequent access to high-resolution thermal imaging of the entire globe. The launch of VanZyl-1 will significantly improve our understanding of climate-related events invisible to the naked eye by collecting images worldwide, including at times not covered by existing satellites, such as capturing high-resolution images over oceans or for consistent imaging at different times of day.
One of the significant limitations of current satellite programs is the infrequency of field-scale thermal image capture - only two images every 16 days - often further compounded by cloud cover, which can obscure critical data. With the addition of VanZyl-1 and Hydrosat's upcoming constellation, additional images will be available. This breakthrough increases the frequency of data collection and enables Hydrosat to deliver more reliable and timely data for monitoring water stress and crop health. As a result, commercial customers can make confident, data-driven decisions based on improved data availability.
"With the launch of VanZyl-1, Hydrosat will pioneer the first commercial high-resolution thermal infrared mission to provide comprehensive global coverage. This marks a significant milestone in combating the effects of climate change by ushering in a new era in thermal imaging technology," said Scott Soenen, Hydrosat's Chief Technology Officer. "Hydrosat's technology will enable the detection and monitoring of events more frequently and at higher resolution, further advancing the precision of our insights. The VanZyl-1 satellite is just the beginning; our future constellation will complement other government missions such as Landsat, enabling the capture of daily thermal infrared imagery of the planet."
The applications for this data are vast and not limited to agriculture, aquaculture, drought, wildfire, and urban heat. From commercial operations to civil government initiatives, the insights provided by VanZyl-1's data into these applications will elevate their capabilities, providing enhanced agricultural and climate modeling and crop stress information to growers and stakeholders. Hydrosat currently supports customers in 38 countries across millions of acres of farmland, enabling growers to optimize farming operations and increase crop yields while consuming less water. As Hydrosat pioneers the delivery of this groundbreaking data, a new era of informed decision-making emerges, driving advancements and efficiencies across various industries, which will be offered exclusively to early adopters who stand to benefit directly from this innovative data stream, evidenced by increased operational precision and the quality of outputs.
Hydrosat's planned launch of its proprietary VanZyl-1 satellite is the latest achievement for the innovative climate tech company, underscoring its position as a leader in the field. Hydrosat was recently awarded a prestigious grant from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which funds innovative solutions with strong commercial potential. Additionally, in 2023, Hydrosat raised over $32 million in venture funding and announced the acquisition of IrriWatch, the world's most advanced irrigation management. Hydrosat has also secured contracts from the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center. These achievements highlight Hydrosat's rapid growth and commitment to driving innovation and delivering cutting-edge solutions. Following its launch of VanZyl-1, the next steps in Hydrosat's satellite constellation project include the upcoming launch of Van-Zyl 2 in early 2025 and the goal of having the first block of satellites operational by 2026.
WASHINGTON - Hydrosat, the climate tech company leveraging thermal imagery to measure water stress in agriculture and mitigate the effects of climate change, announced today the upcoming launch of its first satellite, VanZyl-1, scheduled for early July on SpaceX's Transporter-11, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This groundbreaking satellite will showcase Hydrosat's proprietary, first-of-its-kind custom imagers, to accelerate the delivery of global high-resolution thermal imaging technology and provide a critical dataset to further enhance agricultural and climate models. For the first time, a commercial satellite will include high-resolution thermal imagery and insights spanning the entire Earth - including land and water - revolutionizing the way growers and government agencies evaluate and respond to agricultural, environmental, and climate challenges.
Hydrosat named the VanZyl-1 satellite in honor of Jakob van Zyl, one of Hydrosat's co-founders who passed away in 2020 following a decades-long career that included esteemed leadership roles at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and on numerous space exploration missions. Like its namesake, VanZyl-1 aims to achieve results that have never before been attempted. Specifically, the satellite will reveal a better understanding of global water stress, particularly in agriculture, which is often caused by drought and insufficient irrigation. By using thermal infrared imagery, VanZyl-1 will measure the impact of climate change and provide actionable data.
"With the escalating threat of droughts and water scarcity worldwide, access to reliable data is essential to understanding water utilization and sustaining agricultural productivity," said Pieter Fossel, co-founder and CEO of Hydrosat. "As the global food system faces mounting pressure, businesses and governments are increasingly seeking better data to manage risks in real-time. The launch of VanZyl-1 represents a pivotal advancement in accelerating the delivery of high-quality data that fuels climate applications, providing invaluable insights to tackle pressing environmental issues."
The unique advantage of Hydrosat's pioneering technology is its ability to provide more frequent access to high-resolution thermal imaging of the entire globe. The launch of VanZyl-1 will significantly improve our understanding of climate-related events invisible to the naked eye by collecting images worldwide, including at times not covered by existing satellites, such as capturing high-resolution images over oceans or for consistent imaging at different times of day.
One of the significant limitations of current satellite programs is the infrequency of field-scale thermal image capture - only two images every 16 days - often further compounded by cloud cover, which can obscure critical data. With the addition of VanZyl-1 and Hydrosat's upcoming constellation, additional images will be available. This breakthrough increases the frequency of data collection and enables Hydrosat to deliver more reliable and timely data for monitoring water stress and crop health. As a result, commercial customers can make confident, data-driven decisions based on improved data availability.
"With the launch of VanZyl-1, Hydrosat will pioneer the first commercial high-resolution thermal infrared mission to provide comprehensive global coverage. This marks a significant milestone in combating the effects of climate change by ushering in a new era in thermal imaging technology," said Scott Soenen, Hydrosat's Chief Technology Officer. "Hydrosat's technology will enable the detection and monitoring of events more frequently and at higher resolution, further advancing the precision of our insights. The VanZyl-1 satellite is just the beginning; our future constellation will complement other government missions such as Landsat, enabling the capture of daily thermal infrared imagery of the planet."
The applications for this data are vast and not limited to agriculture, aquaculture, drought, wildfire, and urban heat. From commercial operations to civil government initiatives, the insights provided by VanZyl-1's data into these applications will elevate their capabilities, providing enhanced agricultural and climate modeling and crop stress information to growers and stakeholders. Hydrosat currently supports customers in 38 countries across millions of acres of farmland, enabling growers to optimize farming operations and increase crop yields while consuming less water. As Hydrosat pioneers the delivery of this groundbreaking data, a new era of informed decision-making emerges, driving advancements and efficiencies across various industries, which will be offered exclusively to early adopters who stand to benefit directly from this innovative data stream, evidenced by increased operational precision and the quality of outputs.
Hydrosat's planned launch of its proprietary VanZyl-1 satellite is the latest achievement for the innovative climate tech company, underscoring its position as a leader in the field. Hydrosat was recently awarded a prestigious grant from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which funds innovative solutions with strong commercial potential. Additionally, in 2023, Hydrosat raised over $32 million in venture funding and announced the acquisition of IrriWatch, the world's most advanced irrigation management. Hydrosat has also secured contracts from the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Air Force's National Air and Space Intelligence Center. These achievements highlight Hydrosat's rapid growth and commitment to driving innovation and delivering cutting-edge solutions. Following its launch of VanZyl-1, the next steps in Hydrosat's satellite constellation project include the upcoming launch of Van-Zyl 2 in early 2025 and the goal of having the first block of satellites operational by 2026.
WASHINGTON - Hydrosat, announced today that it has secured a $1.2 million contract through AFWERX, the innovation arm of The Department of the United States Air Force, to adapt its surface temperature data to the mission needs of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). Washington, DC-based Hydrosat provides geospatial intelligence for food security, public safety, and the environment through daily surface temperature data and crop analytics. The AFWERX Direct to Phase II contract will enable NASIC to evaluate Hydrosat's technology for application across a broad range of use cases.
Hydrosat's engagement with the Air Force is to adapt its temperature anomaly detection and monitoring capabilities to broaden and enhance the space-based intelligence-gathering tools at the Air Force's disposal. The Air Force organized the contract through its AFWERX program, which seeks to foster innovation within the Air Force and more quickly integrate commercial technologies into operations. Hydrosat's contract, known as a Direct to Phase II (or D2P2), represents the Air Force's willingness to support the adaptation of Hydrosat's capabilities for intelligence gathering.
"With our Direct to Phase II award, we're able to deliver our thermal infrared remote sensing data to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center to adapt to its unique requirements and needs," said Hydrosat CEO Pieter Fossel. "Hydrosat Daily Surface Temperature data enables intelligence gathering in the thermal infrared at unparalleled data frequency and resolution."
Hydrosat engineers its surface temperature monitoring product to provide science quality data that covers a specific thermal infrared capability gap. Existing sources like NASA's MODIS and Landsat satellites collect surface temperature data in either daily intervals and low resolution or 16-day intervals and high resolution. Hydrosat's surface temperature product provides data in both daily intervals and high resolution to power use cases that benefit from higher data frequency and resolution like irrigation management and drought prediction.
NASIC and Hydrosat's partnership in the effort could aid in developing its thermal infrared satellite constellation and crop irrigation analytics tools.
With its team's growing expertise, Hydrosat is also developing a crop analytics platform, a daily surface temperature monitoring product, and a thermal infrared satellite constellation.