The 2023 megafires burnt more than 84 million hectares of desert and savannah in northern Australia. That’s larger than the whole of NSW, or more than three times size of the UK.
China has embraced the concept of Digital Earth – the use of data from satellites to create a visual map of what’s happening at every point on the planet – and is now a key player in making it happen.
Free space optical communication will allow the same connectivity in space we already have on Earth. And this will provide benefits across a number of sectors.
The flood zone around Townsville extends for hundreds of kilometres, making monitoring difficult even from the air. But scientists are testing a new satellite method that can peer through the clouds.
Allegations of water theft have thrown the Murray-Darling Basin Plan into crisis. The solution could involve users declaring their annual water use, subject to random audits - like a tax return.