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ASTERRA’s view from 390 miles (628 km) above the equator provides the perfect vantage point to see what’s happening beneath our world, understand what it means, and execute a response.
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The core technology on which ASTERRA is based was first applied in the search for underground water on Mars and other planets. Lauren Guy, the geophysicist and entrepreneur who developed the approach, quickly recognized that if it could work so far away, it could be even more effective here on Earth. The water was closer, the need more immediate, and the technology had the potential to solve a number of critical problems.
Mr. Guy co-founded Utilis (now known as ASTERRA) in 2013 to develop applications for the new technology. In 2016, leak detection in underground water systems became the first commercially used application. From an orbiting satellite, a band of the radio spectrum penetrated the Earth’s surface; and an algorithm, fine-tuned to detect treated drinking water, revealed underground leaks as small as 0.5 liters per minute.
For the first time, the managers of underground water infrastructure could actually see the water that was leaking from their systems. Not a prediction, not a likelihood, but the water itself. Even in the largest cities, they could see it all at once, with unheard-of speed and efficiency. Utilis continued to refine the technology and expand its applications beyond leak detection, adding pipeline monitoring and deficiency analysis as well as property assessment to its growing capabilities.
In 2021, Utilis named this family of products ASTERRA, from Astra, Latin for stars; Asterion, the Greek river deity, and Terra, on which we live. Current ASTERRA products available by subscription are MasterPlan, Recover, and EarthWorks, for pipeline assessment, leak detection, and infrastructure assessment. Contract managers looking for Utilis info, click here.
Mission
ASTERRA will become humanity’s eyes, guiding it through Earth’s changes by applying advanced analytic capabilities to synthetic aperture radar.
Vision
We strive to be better citizens of a more sustainable Earth by providing a greater understanding of humanity’s signature on the planet.
ASTERRA has been a trailblazer in innovative technology because of the strength of our leadership, combining more than a century of achievement in scientific research and technical innovation. Their expertise guides the scientists, engineers, and experts in geospatial sciences who are pushing our technology, and our company, forward.
In 2017, co-founder Lauren Guy and CEO Elly Perets traveled to Imagine H2O Week in San Francisco, where they were presented with the very first Imagine H2O Data Challenge award for solutions that drive smarter water resource management. In the few years since then, we have earned more than a dozen additional awards and citations around the world for technical innovation and impact. In 2021 our Recover satellite-based leak detection technology was recognized by the world’s leading industry group, the American Water Works Association (AWWA), who honored us with their inaugural Innovation Award. This confirmed the ascent of our technology from the experimental to tried and true, “…a game-changing solution for the sector,” in the words of the award committee.
Awards
Since 2016, hundreds of projects have been completed worldwide, in the United States, Italy, the UK, Chile, China, South Africa, and elsewhere. Some 100,000 leaks have been verified, saving customers 368 billion gallons (1.67 billion m3) of drinkable water and 920,000 MWH of energy, and the associated environmental and financial costs. It’s one of the ways we support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). As ASTERRA’s capabilities grow, so will our impact on resource resilience, the environment, economics, and safety.
