Hydrosat is on hold on Earth while the technology is in orbit. Hydrosat is a geospatial technology firm that makes crop production predictions using satellite-based thermal images and in-house machine learning and analytics with its Irrigation Software. This year, the business has already disclosed a $20 million funding round and a United States Air Force grant. In June, it revealed that it acquired IrriWatch, a software company in the Netherlands specializing in irrigation. The Crop Yield Forecast was released for the first time this past year. CEO Pieter Fossel said the company's findings were within 0.75 and 1.0 percentage points of the final USDA corn and soybean yields. According to him, the team's ultimate goal is to use the information gleaned from the images to assist farmers in achieving a 50% increase in harvests while simultaneously achieving a 25% decrease in energy and water consumption. With this approach, "we are working to provide an extremely scalable, low-cost set of solutions," as Fossel puts it. "We base our entire operation on satellite infrared images that show crop stress, especially water stress." Currently, the company employs agribusinesses to evaluate crop development and estimate yields. The seed and potato industries have benefited most from its work in row crops so far. The unit of measure for this item is the season per acre. The product's usefulness extends beyond assessing development and harvest to make decisions during the growing season. We're always making improvements to the product. Fossel explains, "It's not just the delivery of an image; we're giving you access to new insights daily throughout the growing season." We do our best to equip farmers with high-quality resources for optimal decision-making. He explains that the instrument can keep tabs on soil moisture levels before planting. The company initially started providing services in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Still, it has now expanded to supply its software platform elsewhere. Their observations are applicable on a regional, statewide, and even national scale. The acquisition of IrriWatch, a provider of Irrigation Software located in the Netherlands, was announced at the start of June. For example, "We aren't telling growers what to do, but we are empowering them with daily data to make their own irrigation decisions," said Fossel. Established in 2019, IrriWatch now serves clients from 62 different countries. The acquisition is meant to strengthen the capacity to provide farmers with information on efficient water use. Fossel comments, "We're in an exciting time to be working on this—the pace of extreme weather events, drought brought on by climate change, are all having a huge impact on growing food. Conversely, "we've never had more access to these analytical capabilities to manage through natural constraints to continue to increase yields." Hydrosat plans to deploy its satellite constellation in 2024. Adds Fosse. The frequency of our data sources is now its greatest weakness. We can continue offering high-definition products at competitive prices if we can access more frequent data. According to Fossel, satellite-generated thermal imagery works well for row crops in this Irrigation Software. Too much money is needed to provide high-res data at the frequency needed for airplanes or drones, so "right now, 95% of the market is an opportunity," he argues. Right now the company is working to democratize better geospatial insights for farming in every place.   References: https://www.agweb.com/news/business/technology/geospatial-company-forecasts-yields-announces-irrigation-software https://spaceref.com/space-commerce/hydrosat-acquires-irriwatch-to-revolutionize-farming-using-space-imagery/ https://muckrack.com/margywithay/articles