Thermal satellites use thermal imaging sensors to detect infrared radiation from objects, enabling remote monitoring.
In simpler terms, different objects emit heat at different kinetic temperatures and have different emissivity due to which it emits infrared radiations, these radiations can be easily detected by thermal imaging sensors, which make thermal satellites serviceable.
Thermal satellites have numerous applications in earth observations, one such applications can be in the field of Mining.
Mining is the process of extracting economically important strategic and critical ore minerals and resources from the subsurface of the earth. It involves the search for, extraction, beneficiation, and processing of naturally occurring ore deposits from the earth.
Thermal satellites can play a vital role in mining industry, like: –
1. Safe and sustainable mining activity: Using thermal satellites, it is possible to track the temperature of tailings dams and look for hotspots that have unstable slopes and might be signs of imminent disaster. The data from thermal satellite may help in preventing disasters like The Brumadinho dam disaster, that took place in Brazil in 2019, where a tailing dam at the Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine suffered a catastrophic failure. The collapse of the dam released a mudflow that killed nearly 270 people.
Disasters like these can be prevented by Thermal satellite as it can detect any seepage in the tailing dam which can later turn into outward flow of mineral waste, because it senses temperature anomalies. Mining industry can utilize this information to increase safety and avert catastrophic disasters.
Figure 3 is a high resolution image by SatVu. The cool and warm contrasting tones in the image represent different temperature, thermal sensor can detect temperature anomaly and thus, provide us with real time, effective monitoring that gives an edge over optical satellites.
2. Environmental impact near mining sites: Thermal satellites can also be used to study the temperature of water bodies near mining sites and find out changes in temperature that could indicate pollution. Mining industries can use this data to reduce their environmental pollution and comply with regulations.
3. Estimation of Land slide risk in Open Pit Mining: Thermal Satellites can come handy in estimating risks of landslides that take place due to open pit mining. It can measure the moisture in soil content which will help in predicting the risk of land slide.
Recently, on June 12, 2023 SatVu launched HOTSAT-1, by SpaceX falcon-9 rocket. It is their first thermal satellite with such high resolutions. It has many applications in different verticals, like defence and monitoring, climate solutions etc. It’s high time we should leverage space technology and optimize it as per requirement.
