Observe
A satellite passes over your site. No hardware to install, and no site visit needed.
Soil moisture at depth, from satellite
Your data stops at the surface.Your roots don't.
MIDAS is being developed to estimate soil moisture at multiple depths from satellite — across a whole site, without probes in the ground.
Developed at Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey. Currently in validation, and looking for growers and land managers to help shape it.
The problem
Surface moisture is a guess.
Topsoil dries and rewets with every hour of sun and wind. It tells you about the top few centimetres — not the depth where roots actually take up water. In-ground probes can close that gap at the points where they sit, but they cost money to install, they are easily damaged by machinery, and they need maintaining.
And it runs both ways. Knowing ground is too wet matters as much as knowing it is too dry — if you are deciding whether a field can take slurry, whether machinery will rut it, or whether you are allowed to travel on it at all. Meanwhile input costs are rising, environmental regulation is tightening, and weather is less predictable every season.
Agriculture accounts for roughly 70% of global freshwater withdrawals.
Above groundRoot zone below
The solution
Looking below the surface, from orbit.
MIDAS — Moisture and Irrigation Data for Automated Systems — uses satellite observation to estimate soil moisture at multiple depths across a whole site. The aim is to give you the depth that matters, everywhere, without putting anything in the ground — whether the question is how much water to add, or how much more the ground can absorb.
Estimate
We turn what the satellite sees into moisture estimates below the surface, mapped across the whole site.
Act
The plan is a simple dashboard showing current values and trends over time, designed to work alongside the automated irrigation you already have rather than replace it.
What you get
What we are building towards.
- At depthMoisture estimated where roots take up water, not only in the top few centimetres.
- Whole siteCoverage across the area you manage, rather than at the points where probes happen to sit.
- Nothing buriedNo cabling and no equipment in the ground to be damaged by machinery.
- TrendsA record over time, to see how a site behaves across a season.
- AlongsideDesigned to work with the automated irrigation you already own.
See how it works
Above the surface, and below it.
Where the data comes from, what it looks like at root depth, and how it reaches the person making the decision.
Where this comes from
Research first. Product next.
The method behind MIDAS was developed at Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey, and field-tested against ground measurements at Wakelyns Agroforestry in Suffolk and the TxSON network in Texas, USA, the latter with the University of Texas at Austin. A patent application is in preparation.
We are honest about the stage: this is a method that works in research conditions and is now being tested against the way people actually make watering decisions. That is what this page is for.
Field-tested · UK & Texas, USA
Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey
Patent application in preparation
ICURe programme
About us
A university spin-out in the making.
MIDAS came out of research at Surrey Space Centre, one of the largest academic space research groups in the UK, at the University of Surrey in Guildford.
The work was led by Catherin Sebastian, who spent around seven years as a geospatial data scientist in the satellite industry before returning to research.
The underlying method is the subject of a patent application in preparation with the University of Surrey. We are now working out whether it should become a company — which is what the survey on this page is for.
- Based at
- Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
- Validated at
- Wakelyns Agroforestry, Suffolk, and the Texas Soil Observation Network, with the University of Texas at Austin
- Supported by
- Innovate UK ICURe programme
- Status
- Pre-commercial. Recruiting trial sites and interview participants.
Who we want to hear from
Six kinds of people, one question.
We are testing several markets at once rather than assuming we know which one needs this most. Tell us how you make watering, spreading or moisture decisions today, and what would have to be true for satellite data at depth to be useful to you. It takes two minutes.
Arable & cash crop growers
Irrigating maize, wheat and similar under automated systems. Deciding when and how much, on incomplete information.
Dairy & livestock
Deciding whether ground can take slurry before you travel on it. Waterlogged means you cannot spread — and storage keeps filling.
Horticulture & orchards
Where water stress shows up in fruit quality and price. Often reached through a cooperative.
Golf & sports turf
Surface consistency across a site, without capital spend on more hardware in the ground.
Peatland & land managers
Rewetting, condition assessment and reporting, where moisture at depth is the thing being managed.
Equipment suppliers & data platforms
Irrigation and groundscare OEMs, and geospatial platforms who might carry this as a data layer.
Two minutes
Real influence on what gets built.
We are not selling anything. We are working out what moisture data at depth would have to do to earn a place in your week — and your answers set that specification.
Prefer to talk? Email c.sebastian@surrey.ac.uk and we will arrange a short call.
Rather talk?
Some of what we are asking does not fit a survey — particularly if you supply equipment or run a data platform. Email us instead.
Email us
Questions
Straight answers, including the awkward ones.
Do I need to install anything?
No. There is no in-ground hardware, and no site visit required.
How deep does it estimate?
Below the surface layer, at the depth where roots take up water rather than the top few centimetres. How deep depends on the site and the soil itself, so the honest answer is that it varies — and establishing that range site by site is part of what we are validating now.
How often would I get an update?
Every few days, set by how often the satellite passes over your location — not continuously, and not on demand. Whether that cadence is good enough for the decisions you actually make is one of the questions we are asking in the survey.
Will it work with my irrigation controller?
The intention is to work alongside existing automated systems rather than replace them. Nothing is integrated yet. Which systems we support will be decided by what people tell us they run — tell us yours in the survey.
Does cloud cover stop it working?
No. Cloud is not a problem for the kind of satellite observation we use.
What does it cost?
Nothing is for sale yet. Working out what a fair commercial model looks like is one of the things the survey is for.
Is this a finished product?
No, and we would rather say so. The method works in research conditions. What we are testing now is whether it answers a question people are actually asking, and in a form they would use.